Science 2 min read

Newly Developed Treatment Further Enhances Superalloys

Power plant | Mzter | Pixabay.com

Power plant | Mzter | Pixabay.com

A new treatment developed by researchers just made superalloys even more “super.”

A team of researchers from the Idaho National Laboratory has reportedly found a way to extend the life of superalloys by thousands of hours. The discovery could potentially improve the functionalities of materials used in nuclear reactors and electrical generators.

“We came up with a way to make a superalloy that is much more resistant to heat-related failures. This could be useful in electricity generators and elsewhere,” Subhashish Meher, lead author of the study published in the journal Science Advances, said.

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What are Superalloys?

Superalloys, also known as high-performance alloys, are alloys that are exceptionally resistant to high temperatures, corrosion, and oxidation. They also have excellent mechanical strength and good surface stability.

To date, superalloys are widely used in machines that are highly exposed to tremendous heat and corrosion. This includes equipment used in power plants, petrochemical processing plants, and oil and gas plants.

The term superalloy was reportedly coined after World War II to describe airplane engines and machines that must perform well at high temperatures.

How to Make Superalloys ‘Super’

By exploiting the results of a previous study about hierarchical microstructures, the researchers discovered that they could enhance the precipitates of a superalloy to create the desired structure.

Meher and his team did this by changing the heating and cooling method used in superalloys. The process made precipitates two or more times larger than their original structure sizes.

Further investigation into the technique showed that the enhanced precipitates could last longer when exposed to high temperatures.

The researchers also found through numerous computer simulations that the ‘super’ superalloys can withstand heat-induced failure for at least 20,000 hours. That’s 17,000 hours more than the usual capacity of a typical superalloy.

“We are now better able to dial in properties and improve material performance,” Meher went on to say.

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Aside from power plants, what other industries do you believe would benefit from this discovery?

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Chelle is the Product Management Lead at INK. She's an experienced SEO professional as well as UX researcher and designer. She enjoys traveling and spending time anywhere near the sea with her family and friends.

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