Researchers from Japan’s Kyoto University have found molybdenum silicide-based composites improve the efficiency of turbine blades.

Installed in many of today’s natural-gas-fueled power plants, gas turbines serve as engines to generate electricity and usually operate in temperatures in excess of 1,600°C, said the researchers. Nickel-based turbine blades tend to melt at temperatures beyond 1,400°C, and therefore require an air-cooling feature to allow them to function.

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To develop materials with higher melting temperatures, Kyoto University’s material scientists examined the properties of various molybdenum silicide compositions by including and excluding extra ternary elements.

“Nickel-based turbine blades tend to melt at temperatures beyond 1,400°C and therefore require an air-cooling feature to allow them to function.”

The team fabricated molybdenum silicide-based materials using a method known as directional solidification, which sees molten metal progressively solidify in a certain direction.

The team discovered that by controlling the solidification rate of the molybdenum silicide-based composite during fabrication and altering the amount of the ternary element added to the composite, a homogeneous material could be formed.

This homogeneous material under the uniaxial compression above 1,000°C starts deforming plastically and its high-temperature strength increases through microstructure refinement.

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Scientists identified that adding tantalum proved more effective as it improves materials strength even at 1,400°C temperature.

Alloys developed by the Kyoto University team were found to be better even in high-temperatures in comparison to the nickel-based super-alloys, as well as recently developed ultrahigh-temperature structural materials.