The heat of an active volcano. A 5,000 pound weight dropped from above. A sandstorm that lasts ten years. These are just some of the ways GE torture-tests the super-strong materials that go into jet engines, wind turbines, and more. And thanks to the company’s fascinating YouTube channel, we get an up-close view of the process. No safety goggles required.
A Ten-Year Sandstorm Packed Into One Minute
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qet8A32HZcI
Tiny particles of aluminum oxide, blasted across a metal surface at over 150 MPH, to see how anti-abrasion coatings stand up to a decade of desert conditions. Talk about gritty.
5,000 Pounds of Pressure
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9XEwxk4qN3I
Two-and-a-half tons of force will tell you exactly how much a material can take. But those glass-fiber and carbon-fiber planks both take it like champs.
Life in a Volcano
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGcvwNeue_8
1,700 degrees Fahrenheit, plus a cool 100,000 pounds of pressure. You’d think that kind of environment would make anything disintegrate, but as it turns out, that treatment only makes these alloys stronger. Life inside a jet engine will be a breeze after this.
Check out GE’s YouTube channel for even more glorious material science and torture testing. It’s not sadism, it’s science! [YouTube]
