Superalloy turbine blades for gas turbines may have been the most significant energy and transportation technology development in the last century. It empowered our military prowess, made it possible for civilian aircraft to fly halfway around the world, and now single-crystal blades are employed in gas turbines for energy conversion because of their superior creep resistance over traditional polycrystal alloys.

The single-crystal technology evolved over 50 years, through an intimate coupling between materials science, mechanical engineering, and manufacturing research. These single-crystal blades, coated with low thermal conductivity ceramics, now perform close to their melting points for thousands of hours (Figure 1). However, the melting point limits further advancement in the operating temperature of gas turbines with metallic materials.