ESA research has helped to develop an aircraft-grade alloy that is twice as light as conventional nickel superalloys while offering equally good properties. The path to creating this alloy required research under all types of gravity.

Airlines are always looking for ways to save fuel by cutting down on weight without sacrificing safety. Generally, cutting weight by 1% will save up to 1.5% in fuel.

For commercial airlines, this saving quickly adds up, offering cheaper flights and fewer stopovers while reducing the overall impact on the environment.

For years, engineers have known that titanium aluminide alloys offer great weight benefits over the nickel superalloys used today in conventional jet engines.

Since the newer alloy can withstand extreme temperatures up to 800°C, it is of particular interest to engine manufacturers.

Although it is possible to make the alloy in a laboratory, casting it in the shapes required by industry, such as a turbine blade, is not simple.

ESA scientists working in the Impress project looked into the problem. To understand natural processes, scientists often remove as many external variables as possible, concentrating their observations on core interactions.

The Impress project needed to ‘switch-off’ a factor that hampers observations: gravity.