Project coming along nicely!!
heh, heh... back then, primary consumer of Titanium in U.S. was military. Products were made with mil-spec certifications* needed, so costs was exorbitant. Meanwhile, in USSR, anyone can walk into hardware store and buy Titanium shovels and fasteners!!! It's one of most abundant ores on planet! Although most of it is used to make white paint pigment.
I was managing bicycle-shoppe back then and was quite excited about relaxation of Cold War and many military suppliers branched out to private-sector with their titanium products. Suddenly titanium bike frames because much more reasonably priced!
* While at university in Santa Barbara, I was involved with firm contracted to provide picnic benches to Vandenberg AFB. They were to be deployed on hillside to watch missile launches, so had to be tested and certified for:
- altitude
- weather-resistance: sun-exposure, fog/dew, rain
- longevity: materials, prep and coatings guaranteed for 20-yr lifespan
In end each bench was billed at $45K apiece!
They were off-the-shelf items from local home-improvement centre. But due to all testing and certifications involved: atmospheric chambers had to be built, jigs, numerous instrumentation and datalogging equipment, it drove amoritised price per item through roof! And to cover costs of 20-yr warranty.
