Nature is wonderful, if often unpredictable. It challenges our skills and courage as we face its elemental forces and defy extremes. Fire, water, earth and air govern our lives – and ThyssenKrupp VDM is in its element with each.

We develop materials for use in fiery heat, in icy waters, at soaring heights and deep down in the earth. Materials made to last, resisting heavy mechanical, thermal and chemical stresses, sometimes all three simultaneously.

Our alloys are made from a wide spectrum of elements from the periodic table. Because the solutions we develop are just as wide-ranging as the demands for which they are required. We understand the power of the elements.

Fire is heat and light, but it is also a devastating elemental force. In it, the fascinating powers of creation and destruction wait to be harnessed. Fire makes metals malleable and fuses elements together. Without fire, industrialization is unthinkable. Exploiting the heat of the flames without unleashing them beyond control is the secret of technological progress – to this day. With our metals, fire can be tamed: resistance to high temperatures is a key property of modern materials from ThyssenKrupp VDM. For combustion chambers and a whole host of other applications.

The oceans are the origin of all life on earth. In many cultures, the gushing spring is the symbol of purity, birth and beginning. But despite this, mankind's relationship with water is ambivalent: An indispensable elixir of life, it can also hollow out stone and erode even steel. Drinking water is a scarce commodity, although more than two thirds of our planet is covered by water. We make salty water usable: corrosion resistance is an essential feature of modern special alloys from ThyssenKrupp VDM. Ideal for use in seawater desalination plants.

Earth is the fertile basis of life for plants, animals and mankind alike. No wonder, then, that "Mother Earth" is the symbol of Nature in countless myths. Her natural resources are the life energy for the progress of civilization and technology. Extracting them from the depths of the Earth's interior, where pressures and temperatures are unimaginably high, is a technically complex endeavour that takes an extreme toll on the materials used. We make this task surmountable: modern materials from ThyssenKrupp VDM resist extreme mechanical loads – even at high temperatures. For example in geothermal power plants, where they harness energy from our geological past for a sustainable future.

The breath of life: what more fundamental need do we have? Invisible, inodorous and seemingly weightless, it symbolizes the Immaterial in many cultures. Floating through the air with the wind, an ancient dream of mankind, has long become reality but has lost none of its wonder. In our day, machines as wide as a football field can take to the skies. We make it possible: titanium ensures low weight; ultra-pure superalloys boast outstanding high-temperature strength and enormous fatigue resistance – ThyssenKrupp VDM produces both of these materials. Optimally suited for use in top-performing aircraft turbines.