New High-Performance Structural Steels for Lighter, More Robust, More Economical Rotorcraft

QuesTek Innovations LLC has applied its Materials by Design® computational design technology to design, develop, and insert two new high-performance structural steels that are now commercially available and can significantly reduce rotorcraft weight and manufacturing costs while increasing operational robustness. Ferrium®S53™ is a high-strength, high-toughness alloy designed as a corrosion resistant replacement for 300M. Ferrium®M54™ is another high-strength, high-toughness alloy designed as a low-cost, drop-in replacement for AMS 6532 (AerMet®100). Some information is also provided on QuesTek's advanced C-series gear steels, which are described in detail in another paper from the American Helicopter Society 67th Annual Forum ("Advanced Gear Alloys for Ultra High Strength Applications," T. Shen, T. Krantz, J. Sebastian).