A History of Superalloy Metallurgy for Superalloy Metallurgists

Superalloys are utilized at a higher fraction of their actual melting point than any other class of broadly commercial metallurgical materials.Superalloys are the materials which have made much of our very-high-temperature engineering technology possible.They are the materials leading edge of jet engines.This "history" is an attempt to tell their story.However, it is not intended to be simply a logical recording Iof the events that have transpired to create them, but is intended to be a technically and scientifically useful analysis through chronological treatment, based upon consideration of the development of their significant property factors, the human factors, and other external forces which have generated these unusual, and now essential, materials.399 * In the United States, Boeing's perceptive and brilliant inventor Vladimir Pavlecki valiantly attempted to secure support for a similar effort, but apparently Government ignorance and corporate selfishness prevented any viable developments.This was particularly unfortunate because the U.S. had the clear lead in materials capability.