Navy seeks new alloy for carrier-based landing gear

QuesTek Innovations LLC has been awarded a Phase II SBIR by the Naval Air Warfare Center in Patuxent River, MD for the development of a nanostructured high-strength, high-toughness stainless steel for carrier-based aircraft.

Based on QuesTek's success in the computational design of Ferrium ®  S53, a new superior high-strength stainless structural steel that was developed for the Air Force, the Navy awarded a Phase I SBIR to QuesTek in October 2002 for the Company to utilize its Materials by Design® technology to create a new nanostructured stainless alloy that meets the stringent mechanical properties for carrier-based aircraft. Currently, the Navy uses a non-stainless alloy that is susceptible to both corrosion and hydrogen embrittlement, which can lead to stress corrosion cracking. As a result, current non-stainless steels require a costly and environmentally hazardous cadmium coating process to protect against corrosion.

During Phase I, three first-generation alloys were computationally designed and prototypes were ordered. During the Phase II program, a second-generation of the most promising alloy will be produced in large scale and characterized. A new high-strength, high-toughness stainless alloy with anti-corrosive properties will benefit the environment by virtually eliminating the need for toxic metal plating and it will have dual-use applications for the commercial aerospace market and other commercial markets such as marine equipment.