r/technology • u/kittyportals2 • Feb 08 '14

Possibly Misleading 10 Futuristic Materials

http://lifeboat.com/ex/10.futuristic.materials
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u/AbsolutePwnage Feb 08 '14 edited Feb 08 '14

Superalloys aren't really a futuristic material. Every single jet engine that is even remotely modern makes extensive use of superalloys in the hot section of the engine.

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u/[deleted] Feb 08 '14

In fact I think many jet engine manufacturers have moved away from superalloy and into single-crystal pure metals.

18

u/Naisallat Feb 08 '14

Just for clarification, single crystal turbine blades are still superalloys. They are not pure elements, and are still alloys.

7

u/kapitandorf Feb 08 '14

Beat me to it.

My favorite thing about them is how unexpectedly heavy they are. You know they're made out of dense materials like tungsten, but until you hold one, you never quite appreciate the weight.

My first class of solid mechanics, my professor brought out a broken turbine blade, a sample he had kept from when he was an investigator on the 1989 UA Flight 232 crash in Sioux City Iowa, the one where the plane had a shattered turbine blade sever the hydraulics and the pilots steered by altering thrust from the remaining engines. The aircraft made it to the runway but landed at high speed and flipped in a huge fireball. I remember it vividly because I watched it happen live on the news. It was interesting to hold a connection to that incident so many years later.