The Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) has developed titanium aluminide (TiAl) alloy technology that maintains strength and durability even in ultra-high temperature environments exceeding 950°C. This overcomes the limitations of existing TiAl materials, which lose microstructural stability at high temperatures, and can be utilized in the development of lightweight, heat-resistant materials for aircraft engines and space launch vehicles.

KIMS announced that the 'TiAl material technology for gas turbines rated at over 950°C,' developed by Dr. Kim Sung-woong's research team at the Institute of Extreme Materials, was selected as the 'World's No. 1 Technology' for 2025 following internal and external reviews and public verification. This system is a procedure for selecting world-class or world-first source technologies held by KIMS, involving a comprehensive review of patents, technology transfer, and industrial application performance.

TiAl alloy is a lightweight heat-resistant material based on titanium and aluminum. It is lighter than nickel-based superalloys, making it advantageous for lightweighting aircraft engines, but existing materials had limitations in maintaining performance at around 750–800°C. In particular, at temperatures above 900℃, the internal microstructure became unstable, and there was a problem with reduced strength and durability.

To overcome this limitation, the research team newly designed the alloy element composition and microstructure control process. Niobium (Nb) and tungsten (W) suppress atomic diffusion at high temperatures to enhance microstructure stability, while silicon (Si) and carbon (C) play a role in reducing microstructure boundary migration and microstructure coarsening.

In addition, the research team manufactured an alloy based on vacuum melting and precision casting processes, and implemented a process that uniformly controls the microstructure with only a single heat treatment. Through this, they secured tensile strength, creep life, and fatigue characteristics even in an ultra-high temperature environment of 950°C, and confirmed oxidation resistance that forms a protective oxide layer even under high-temperature oxidation conditions.

This technology can be applied to fields requiring both ultra-high temperature and lightweight characteristics, such as aircraft low-pressure turbine blades, power generation gas turbine blades, hypersonic vehicles, and reusable spacecraft components. It is also significant in that it reduces dependence on existing nickel-based superalloys and expands the domestic technological foundation for aerospace materials.

Principal Researcher Kim Seong-woong explained that this technology is a material technology that simultaneously secures the ultra-high temperature and lightweight characteristics required in the fields of aircraft engines and space launch vehicle propulsion systems.