Why Don’t Jet Engines Melt?

This video unpacks how jet engines survive 1,500 °C heat without turning into molten metal. It starts with the basics—how air flows and combusts, why engines are so enormous, and the role of edge dislocations—then tours Rolls-Royce’s precision casting facility. You’ll learn how nickel-based superalloys (with that vital gamma-prime phase) and single-crystal blades are engineered to withstand extreme stress and temperature.

Next up is a crash course in crystal structures and grain selection, showing how each turbine blade is grown and coated for maximum heat resistance. Clever cooling channels, special coatings, and meticulous manufacturing mean those blades never actually hit their melting point—even when you throw sand (or worse) into the mix.

Watch on YouTube