We live off of 6061 when building space hardware. A lighter, stronger material would be great as long as it's not too much more expensive.
You wouldn't happen to have tried polishing it to optical quality, would you? Matching materials means the whole system is athermal.
We have not tried to polish yet. And the price is very competitive to 6061 T6.
As I mentioned we are preparing to due the process to AE44 and are very excited about the possible results.
We think the next round of tests will show a strength to weight ratio per pound greater than Titanium.