The space shuttle's engines are made up of a series of thin inconel sheets sandwiched together, to avoid the problems with machining metals. The most significa

The space shuttle's engines are made up of a series of thin inconel sheets sandwiched together, to avoid the problems with machining metals. The most significant machining issue is drill 'walk', which is not specific to inconel, and causes non-straight holes on the plate, which could cause uneven mixture of fuel and oxidizer, thus creating dangerous 'hot-spots'.