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...1997 a researchers at Cambridge University found that immersing small samples of certain oxides in baths of molten salt and passing a current through them transformed the material directly into metal.

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These skills turned a technique that could produce a few grams of metal in a laboratory into a process that operates on an industrial scale.

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The company’s first product is tantalum. Its factory is not much bigger than a house, but has enough capacity to supply 3-4% of the 2,500 tonnes of this metal that are used around the world each year. The resulting income, the firm hopes, will provide it with the grubstake it needs to move on to the big prize: titanium.

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The process starts with powdered metal oxide, which serves as the cathode. The anode is made of carbon, and the molten salt (which has a temperature of 1,000°C) acts as an electrolyte, permitting current, in the form of oxygen ions, to pass from cathode to anode. There, the ions react to form carbon dioxide, while the cathode is gradually transformed from oxide to metal.

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The powder itself, however, could be employed directly in what is known as additive manufacturing, which uses 3D printers to build up objects a layer at a time. Cheaper metal powders would make 3D printing much easier.