<story><title>Lab-grown diamonds threaten viability of the real gems</title><url>http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2076225/de-beers-fights-fakes-technology-chinas-lab-grown-diamonds</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>baldfat</author><text>Cheap titanium bikes are high on my list but I think the killer application is titanium hinges. Springs will last a lifetime.&lt;p&gt;Looks like this is starting to happen alreadt: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.alibaba.com&amp;#x2F;showroom&amp;#x2F;titanium-hinges.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.alibaba.com&amp;#x2F;showroom&amp;#x2F;titanium-hinges.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;$0.25 for a hinge&lt;p&gt;Titanium is light, but my favorite thing is it is next to impossible to bend. So anything that shouldn&amp;#x27;t bend will be better with titanium.</text></item><item><author>dmix</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m curious, what are some of the places we would start to see titanium if the prices dropped?</text></item><item><author>scythe</author><text>In Napoleon&amp;#x27;s day it was more expensive than gold. By the time the Washington Monument was constructed the price had dropped to roughly the level of silver. Titanium might be poised to follow in its footsteps after the discovery of electrolysis of titanium oxide in molten calcium chloride, analogous to the cryolite process.</text></item><item><author>kbutler</author><text>Aluminum in the 1800s was more expensive than gold, and was used as jewelry, fancy cutlery, the capstone of the Washington monument, etc. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;History_of_aluminium&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;History_of_aluminium&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Inexpensive mass production moved it from niche prestige uses to unlock its many utilitarian applications.</text></item><item><author>userbinator</author><text>As the price of diamond continues dropping, I wonder if people will find more interesting applications of the material and it&amp;#x27;ll eventually become as mundane as things like steel and aluminium. Besides its hardness, it also has very high thermal conductivity. Diamond is still too expensive to be a bulk material, but I look forward to when things like this become cheap and commonplace:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;File:Single-crystal_CVD_diamond_disc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;File:Single-crystal_CVD_diamon...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>akgerber</author><text>You can already buy a titanium bike (sourced from China) for a very reasonable place from Bikesdirect.com— mine was cheaper than a steel Surly Straggler for similar specs.&lt;p&gt;Habanero also sells them for low, but not quite as low, prices:
&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.habcycles.com&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.habcycles.com&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;There seem to be a bunch of low-cost titanium manufacturers in China selling directly on eBay.</text></comment>
<story><title>Lab-grown diamonds threaten viability of the real gems</title><url>http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/2076225/de-beers-fights-fakes-technology-chinas-lab-grown-diamonds</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>baldfat</author><text>Cheap titanium bikes are high on my list but I think the killer application is titanium hinges. Springs will last a lifetime.&lt;p&gt;Looks like this is starting to happen alreadt: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.alibaba.com&amp;#x2F;showroom&amp;#x2F;titanium-hinges.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.alibaba.com&amp;#x2F;showroom&amp;#x2F;titanium-hinges.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;$0.25 for a hinge&lt;p&gt;Titanium is light, but my favorite thing is it is next to impossible to bend. So anything that shouldn&amp;#x27;t bend will be better with titanium.</text></item><item><author>dmix</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m curious, what are some of the places we would start to see titanium if the prices dropped?</text></item><item><author>scythe</author><text>In Napoleon&amp;#x27;s day it was more expensive than gold. By the time the Washington Monument was constructed the price had dropped to roughly the level of silver. Titanium might be poised to follow in its footsteps after the discovery of electrolysis of titanium oxide in molten calcium chloride, analogous to the cryolite process.</text></item><item><author>kbutler</author><text>Aluminum in the 1800s was more expensive than gold, and was used as jewelry, fancy cutlery, the capstone of the Washington monument, etc. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;History_of_aluminium&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.m.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;History_of_aluminium&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Inexpensive mass production moved it from niche prestige uses to unlock its many utilitarian applications.</text></item><item><author>userbinator</author><text>As the price of diamond continues dropping, I wonder if people will find more interesting applications of the material and it&amp;#x27;ll eventually become as mundane as things like steel and aluminium. Besides its hardness, it also has very high thermal conductivity. Diamond is still too expensive to be a bulk material, but I look forward to when things like this become cheap and commonplace:&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;File:Single-crystal_CVD_diamond_disc.jpg&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;File:Single-crystal_CVD_diamon...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>at-fates-hands</author><text>&amp;gt; Titanium is light, but my favorite thing is it is next to impossible to bend.&lt;p&gt;This gives an insane amount of tensile strenght since it always wants to retain its shape. TBH I have no idea why we haven&amp;#x27;t seen Titanium in things like golf clubs, hockey sticks, baseball bats, tennis rackets, snowboards etc, where you could really use its springy characteristics to a huge advantage.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve always felt like it has a huge potential for widespread use in sports.</text></comment>