Texas A&M University

Increasing the efficiency of power generation and air transportation can only be achieved by increasing the temperature at which generation/propulsion turbines operate. The emerging Refractory High Entropy Alloys (RHEAs) can enable much higher operating temperatures than the state-of-the-art. Identifying the alloys' chemistry is difficult due to the vastness of the RHEA chemical space. BIRDSHOT, however, proposes an interdisciplinary framework combining physics-based modeling, machine learning, and artificial intelligence as well as high-throughput synthesis and characterization platforms to explore the RHEA space in a parallel fashion. BIRDSHOT is capable of optimally guiding the discovery campaign while simultaneously considering multiple objectives and constraints. BIRDSHOT aims to discover alloys that can potentially withstand the extreme environments in a gas turbine, retain compatibility with protective coatings, and are amenable to additive manufacturing, resulting in significant energy savings in power generation and transportation.

Combining development of new ultrahigh temperature materials with compatible coatings and manufacturing technologies has the potential to increase gas turbine efficiency up to 7%, which will significantly reduce wasted energy and carbon emissions.