Case Study: GKN Aerospace reduces alloy design time with Intellegens Alchemite™

New alloys for additively-manufactured heat exchangers

GKN Aerospace partnered with Intellegens to address the need for a new titanium alloy for additively manufactured heat exchangers. The challenge was to find a material that combined high thermal conductivity, strong mechanical properties, and suitability for additive manufacturing, all while supporting future aerospace requirements such as cooling for hydrogen- or battery-powered aircraft.

Intellegens used its Alchemite™ machine learning tool to analyze 256 historical titanium alloys and optimize candidate compositions. The resulting alloy was predicted to deliver 18.4 W/mK thermal conductivity and 595 MPa ultimate tensile strength, with a virtual experiment showing palladium was key to performance. Intellegens also cut the material design process from about two years to less than three months.

GKN Aerospace

Marko Bosman

Chief Technologist