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Veritasium: Why don’t jet engines melt?

Why don’t jet engines melt? These machines suck in air, compress it, mix it with fuel and burn it at temperatures beyond the melting point of most metals – yet they stay solid thanks to nickel-based superalloys packed with gamma-prime precipitates that lock dislocations, advanced cooling airflows and heat-resistant coatings that keep turbine blades just cool enough.

We also tour Rolls-Royce’s precision casting facility to see how single-crystal blades are grown by directional solidification, learn why blade geometry and internal cooling channels matter as much as material science, and get a quick history of how early Whittle-style engines evolved into today’s near-melt-proof powerhouses.

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