Flaws become reinforcements: engineered defects make metals stronger

Engineers usually fight crystal defects — the tiny flaws inside metals. Ohio State's Andreas Bezold and Michael Mills decided to organise them instead. Their two-step process — deform the metal, then age it — arranges defects into dense networks inside a cobalt-nickel superalloy and a cobalt-chromium-tungsten alloy, making both stronger and better at resisting warping at high temperatures, without changing their chemistry at all. Published in Science on 15 October, the trick could mean longer-lasting alloys in aircraft turbine engines and power-plant machinery, where heat is the enemy.

SDG 9 · Industry, innovation and infrastructure — Mechanism: tech innovation