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Comment by PeterisP | Hacker News Reader

How do you perform repair on something inside a solid steel, titanium or aluminum block, which is what this structure replaces?

These are structural components that don't have anything "inside" but are used as material for carrying/distributing loads, and their strength and weight is the thing that matters. If their integrity is compromised, you generally don't repair structural components if the repaired seam wouldn't have the same strength as the original material, but replace them.

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I think a real-life example that might illustrate the difference is a car that's been in an accident. A good body shop can do a lot as far as straightening components, doing new spot-welding, etc. in a car that's made with contemporary techniques, but imagine if it had a chassis or unibody components made out of this material. They would need to be replaced, because straightening won't repair the micro-structure, and they probably can't be welded. Replacement is going to be far costlier as well, because you'd have to disassemble the whole car and put it back together. plus the replacement part has to be meticulously 3D printed instead of stamped/forged/welded.

That said, I can imagine it being good for applications like fighter jet components where it's probably considered scrap after the first accident.

I am not an engineer but i don't think car repair techniques would work on traditional materials used in this niche to the strength required for anything that needs to use titanium alloy. We don't currently make cards out of titanium, we probably aren't going to start making them out of fancy titanium. Car repair shops work because cars don't actually need to be that strong.

Do you think there will be a market for typical household electronics items such as the hairdryer specifically made with repairability in the near future? Perhaps driven (unlikely) by consumer demand or more likely by resource prices or legislative pressure.

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