Inside the UK factories growing jet engine turbine blades

RecentNews.uk

Jet engine turbine blades are grown as a single metal crystal rather than cut from solid blocks.

A tiny spiral channel called a pigtail is used during casting to force a single crystal to form.

Components feature intricate internal cooling channels to survive temperatures above 1,500C.

Only a handful of companies across five countries, including the UK, have mastered the manufacturing process.

Will Western aerospace firms maintain their monopoly on advanced turbine blade manufacturing over the next decade?

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