Engineers use lasers to drill tiny holes in the metal alloy turbine blades to bleed in cooling air and protect their surface from the heat. But the cooling air also reduces engine performance. “More heat means more cooling air, which lowers overall efficiency,” Blank says. “When you drop the need for cooling components, your engine will become aerodynamically more efficient and also more fuel efficient.”

Since the rotating turbine blades made from CMCs are so light, they also allow engineers to reduce the size of the metal disks to which they are attached. “This is pure mechanics,” Blank says. “The lighter blades generate smaller centrifugal force, which means that you can also slim down the disk, bearings and other parts.” GE just recently finished the world’s first successful test of rotating CMC blades inside an F414 military jet engine, which normally powers F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet jets. They were able to run the engine for 500 cycles. (One cycle takes the engine to takeoff thrust and back.)

The blades powered through punishing dynamic forces and high temperatures inside the engine’s low-pressure turbine, giving engineer another proof that the heat-resistant technology that can withstand unprecedented conditions. Blank says that thanks to CMCs, GE’s ADVENT adaptive cycle engine had already set the world record for the highest combined compressor and turbine temperatures. It was validated by the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL). The first application of the blades could be inside new jet engines for “sixth-generation” fighter jets (see below), like the ADVENT. “But we already envision future commercial applications,” Blank says.