New, Smart Materials
Innovation to Increase Jet Fuel Efficiency Photo: Courtesy of Texas A&M Potential to Reduce the Cost of Flying Texas A&M scientists have developed a group of new, smart materials that could significantly improve the efficiency of fuel burn in jet engines. That has the potential of cutting the cost of flying. Brand New Materials with Great Potential The materials could also reduce airplane noise over residential areas. Scientists say there are additional applications in a variety of other industries. They believe they are just scratching the surface of something new that could enable brand new technologies and brand new scientific research. The lead researcher is Dr. Ibrahim Karaman, Chevron Professor and head of the university's Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering. Smart Metals Changing Shape The Texas A&M team brought together 2 new areas of materials science involving metal alloys which are metals composed of 2 or more elements. One are