Media Platforms Design TeamTi sponge price per metric ton, adjusted for 2009 Dollars. 1975-76F-14 and F-15 warplane production reaches peak; engineers design larger passenger jets.1979-81Commercial airplane orders surge.1985-86Production of B-1B bombers.1991-93Post-Cold War reduction in military aerospace demand.1999F-22 Raptor warplane design sold to the U.S. Air Force.2003-04China invests heavily in its military; the Raptor reaches full-rate production.2005-06Commercial airliner orders boom; demand far outstrips supply.2008-09Global economic slowdown; excess inventories and airliner production delays pull prices down.How Titanium is ProcessedMedia Platforms Design TeamTitanium ore is chlorinated and then reduced to form a sponge. Sponge is melted with scrap into ingots, which are then formed into shapes used by the aerospace industry. Joe PappalardoJoe Pappalardo is a contributing writer at Popular Mechanics and author of the new book, Spaceport Earth: The Reinvention of Spaceflight.
