When rockets or jet engines fire up, their parts face unimaginable stress. Temperatures can rise above 2,000°F, and under that kind of heat, most metals quickly weaken or break apart.

For years, aerospace engineers relied on very expensive alloys or complex cooling systems, like regenerative cooling channels, to keep engines running at high temperatures. Affordable, 3D printable alloys in the mid-temperature range, from 1,900°F to 2,400°F, simply didn’t exist, NASA explains. Expensive higher-heat alloys were the only option until NASA developed GRX-810.

NASA first unveiled GRX-810 in 2024, and the alloy has been the subject of webinars, data sheets, and early testing since then. But the agency’s new announcement shows the material is no longer just experimental; it’s now being manufactured at scale and tested in real-world aerospace applications.

Today, this new metal, developed at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, is designed for 3D printing and can survive the extreme conditions inside rocket engines and high-speed turbines. Early tests show it lasts much longer than other affordable alloys, in some cases a year at 2,000°F, compared to only hours for common materials.

A New Way to Make Metal

Creating GRX-810 was not simple. NASA scientists started with the basics: a mix of nickel, cobalt, and chromium. But those ingredients alone weren’t enough. To withstand extreme heat, each metal particle needed to be strengthened with tiny ceramic oxides. These are called oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) alloys.

The problem was that ODS alloys were notoriously difficult and expensive to make. So the Glenn team had to invent a new manufacturing method. They turned to a process called resonant acoustic mixing. By shaking a container of metal powder and nano-oxide particles at high speed, they made the oxides coat every metal particle evenly. The result is a powder where the oxides and metal are inseparable, even if the part is later ground down and reused, explains NASA.

Tim Smith, a materials engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center who led the project, explained: “If you look at the metal powder under a microscope, it looks like powdered-sugar donut holes. The metal is the donut, and the nano-oxide material is the powdered sugar.”

This turbine engine combustor was 3D printed at Glenn Research Center using the GRX-810 alloy. Image courtesy of NASA.

This coating method is what gives GRX-810 its unique strength. Metals usually deform or “creep” under stress at high temperatures, “stretching like taffy until they fail.” GRX-810 resists that stretching far longer, explained Jeremy Iten, chief technical officer at Elementum 3D.

In fact, Elementum 3D, a Colorado company known for designing advanced metal powders for 3D printing, now manufactures GRX-810 under a NASA license and has grown production from test samples to full industrial scale. It wasn’t their first NASA project, either. Elementum had previously worked with NASA under the RAMFIRE program (short for Reactive Additive Manufacturing for the Fourth Industrial Revolution) to 3D print an experimental rocket nozzle using its aluminum alloys. More recently, it was chosen as the official material supplier for NASA’s HUNCH (High school students United with NASA to Create Hardware) lunar additive manufacturing initiative, which brings advanced 3D printing into student projects.

Aerospike nozzle production process for NASA. Image courtesy of Elementum 3D.

In 2024, GRX-810 was still at the lab scale, more of a proof-of-concept. Today, Elementum 3D has scaled it to ton-level production and is supplying industry partners. The alloy has moved from early batches to full industrial orders, opening the door for aerospace and energy companies to try it in real engines.

NASA notes that 3D printing with GRX-810 allows more complex shapes than traditional methods. That means engineers can design parts with curves, lattices, and built-in cooling channels, and now have a metal strong enough to survive high heat.

This puts GRX-810 as a material moving from R&D into real hardware, a shift that matters not just for NASA, but also for commercial industries like aviation, energy, and even advanced manufacturing.

From NASA Lab to Industry

NASA rarely develops new technology just for itself. The agency often licenses its inventions to private companies, helping spread innovation into the broader economy. In this case, Elementum 3D holds a co-exclusive license to produce GRX-810. It manufactures the alloy in both small research batches and industrial quantities of over a ton.

The company continues to work closely with NASA under a Space Act Agreement, which allows government and private industry to collaborate on technology development.

“Initial tests done on the large-scale production of our GRX-810 alloy showed a lifespan that’s twice as long as the small-batch material initially produced, and those were already fantastic,” noted Iten.

What’s more, industries are already putting GRX-810 to the test. Aerospace company Vectoflow is experimenting with 3D printed flow sensors made from the alloy. These sensors measure how gases move through a turbine, helping engineers tune engines for efficiency. Usually, flow sensors in hot zones can burn out within minutes. By using GRX-810, they could last much longer, improving fuel efficiency, reducing emissions, and cutting the cost of constant replacements.

Commercial space companies are also exploring GRX-810 for parts inside rocket engines, where high heat and stress are the biggest challenges. In the long run, this could help lower the cost of launching satellites, carrying astronauts, or flying spacecraft deeper into the solar system.

3D printing metal parts using special alloys like GRX-810 makes it possible to fabricate a single complex part. Image courtesy of Elementum 3D.

As usual with NASA, the new material is a win for both space and Earth. NASA has a long history of creating new materials, and like others before it, GRX-810 could help both space missions and Earth-bound applications. With GRX-810, engines can run hotter and last longer. That’s not just good news for rockets and airplanes, but manufacturing companies could find new uses for the material. Proving once again how valuable space research is and how much it can change the materials we use on Earth.