Ferrium® M54™

Ferrium M54 is a premium-quality, secondary hardening martensitic steel that exhibits very high strength (ultimate tensile strength of 293 ksi), high toughness, and high resistance to stress corrosion cracking (SCC), and excellent fatigue resistance. M54 was computationally designed to be a cost-effective, drop-in competitor to AerMet® 100 (AMS 6532), yet offer equivalent-or-better properties. Applications can include aircraft landing gear, arresting tailhooks, flap tracks, actuators, driveshafts, sporting goods, fasteners, armor, blast-resistant or impact containment devices, and other highly-loaded structural applications.

Want corrosion-resistant ultra high-strength steel?  See Ferrium S53.

Want a tough, strong core but greater surface hardness?  See Ferrium C61 or Ferrium C64.

Benefits

Benefits of using M54 vs. AMS 6532, Maraging 250, 4340, 300M or other high-strength steels can include:

• Reduce acquisition and replacement costs for parts currently using AMS 6532, while also gaining improved material properties.
• Improve the durability, or reduce the size and weight, of parts currently using 4340, Maraging 250, 300M or other alloys.
• Reduce the occurrence of difficult-to-predict SCC failures of parts currently using 4340, Maraging 250, 300M or other alloys, and related expenses for part condemnation and equipment failure/downtime.

Licensed Supplier / M54 Price and Availability

As shown at left please directly contact our commercial production/sales licensee Latrobe Specialty Metals Company for M54 material pricing, availability and information.

Technical Assistance

If you have a specific application engineering or technical question that is not answered by our licensee's resources and the additional information below, then feel free to Contact Us.

Design and Development Background

We computationally designed M54 in direct response to NAVAIR solicitation N07-032 for industry to offer materials that could improve upon AMS 6532.

In 2011 we completed a NAVAIR-funded SBIR Phase II program to further design and develop M54 as a lower-cost, high-performance landing gear steel.

In 2011 we completed a NAVAIR-funded SBIR Phase I program that will in part evaluate M54 as a material for use in tailhook components, used to abruptly arrest and stop aircraft landing on aircraft carriers.

In June 2011 we spoke about M54 at AeroMat 2011 (see presentation attached below).

In April 2010 we announced that Latrobe Specialty Steel Co. is the initial firm licensed to commercially produce and sell M54.