Questek Innovations LLC, Evanston, Ill., announces that its Ferrium M54 steel has qualified for Navy T-45 aircraft hook shank production. Qualification life for the incumbent Hy-Tuf components was 1020 arrests, and for M54 was 2300 arrests with the same geometry. The benefits of Ferrium M54 steel include superior strength, toughness, fatigue resistance, and stress corrosion cracking resistance. M54 steel is double vacuum melted (i.e., vacuum induction melted and then vacuum arc remelted, or “VIM/VAR”) so that it is very clean, which helps it have a much greater fatigue strength.
An order for 40 Ferrium M54 steel hook shanks has been authorized, and QuesTek will manage the material procurement, forging, machining, heat treat, and finishing processes. A preliminary Navy analysis of the procurement costs shows that the finished cost of Ferrium M54 steel hook shanks is only ~10% more than hook shanks made with Hy-Tuf, but because of the greater lifetime of M54 hook shanks, the cost savings to the Navy is expected to exceed $3 million. Due to the fact that the M54 hook shanks were qualified with longer field life, fewer components will be consumed, thereby reducing waste and improving fleet logistics.
Given Ferrium M54’s improved performance, the Navy has also agreed to allow Ferrium M54 steel to replace 300M steel on selected F/A-18 aircraft landing gear components, generally without requiring component level testing or full requalification.
Several other government agencies have provided funding over the years to help QuesTek develop the Integrated Computational Materials Engineering (ICME) tools and models necessary to design new materials, including The Strategic Environmental Research and Development Office (SERDP), US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
Ferrium M54 is commercially produced by Carpenter Technology, Reading, Pa., under their license from QuesTek.
www.questek.com/ferrium-m54.html
