High-temperature structural intermetallics

In the last one and a half decades, a great deal of fundamental and developmental research has been made on high-temperature structural intermetallics aiming at the implementation of these intermetallics in aerospace, automotive and land-based applications. These intermetallics include aluminides formed with either titanium, nickel or iron and silicides formed with transition metals. Of these high-temperature intermetallics, TiAl-based alloys with great potential in both aerospace and automotive applications have been attracting particular attention. Recently TiAl turbocharger wheels have finally started being used for turbochargers for commercial passenger cars of a special type. The current status of the research and development of these high-temperature intermetallics is summarized and a perspective on what directions future research and development of high-temperature intermetallics should take is provided. (C) 2000 Acta Metallurgica Inc. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.