A sponge must be developed in two steps. (Note: the term sponge is used because it best describes the porous nature of portions of the reduction mass.) Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is mixed with coke or tar and charged in a chlorinator. Heat and chlorine gas are applied. The titanium ore reacts with the chlorine to form titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4). The output of the chlorination process is a crude tetrachloride. Purification is necessary, and is accomplished by a series of fractional distillation and condensation steps. Titanium tetrachloride is reduced to metal by reaction with metallic sodium or magnesium, or electrolysis with molten salt. The magnesium reduction process invented by Dr. William Kroll is the most commonly utilized method. Purified titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) is metered into a steel reaction vehicle with an exact quantity of pure magnesium. The reaction vessel is sealed and evacuated to prevent atmospheric gases from contaminating the mixture. Significant amounts of heat are added. The magnesium melts, causing a reaction forming titanium metal and magnesium chloride. When the reduction process is complete, residual magnesium and magnesium chloride are removed from the metal mass. The resultant is a sponge that may be chipped or machined out of the reduction vessel. The sponge is crushed if necessary and sampled for chemical composition. Care must be taken while melting the titanium, atmospheric gases and nearly all refractory materials contaminate the molten metal. In the consumable electrode process, sponge titanium is blended with alloying constituents and compacted in large hydraulic presses to form briquettes that are assembled into electrodes for melting. The electrode is attached to a water cooled ram to provide vertical movement in the vacuum furnace and carry the current to the electrode. Volatile materials are removed during the initial melting operations. The re-melted materials are formed into an ingot weighing close to five (5) tons. Conversion of the ingot into an extruded hollow is accomplished through hot working techniques and equipment. The ingot is heated and forged in a series of reductions until a bar (approximately 8 inches in diameter) is achieved. Finish temperatures are closely regulated to establish optimum grain size and phase distribution. Cold working reduces the extruded hollow tube to the final tube size. (Cold reduction can be made using swaging, drawing, and tube reducing. The most common method is tube reducing (pilgering or rocking). Reductions of approximately 60 - 70% are regularly used between annealing steps. Numerous additional steps are required to gradually bring the tubing down to the desired diameter. Tube reducing is one of the most critical steps because crystallographic texture, grain size, and other metallurgical properties are developed during this stage. Tubing used by DEAN is processed using conventional and proprietary practices unique in the industry. The differences allow the optimum crystallographic textures and mechanical properties to be exploited for specific needs in biking.