Steel alloy shaft Ferrium® S53®

for the aerospace industry

Ferrium S53 (AMS 5922, MMPDS) is an ICME-designed, corrosion resistant, ultra-high strength steel for structural aerospace and other applications where 300M (BS S155) and 4340 are typically used, but S53 steel provides: much greater resistance to general corrosion and to stress corrosion cracking (SCC); excellent resistance to fatigue and to corrosion fatigue; and high hardenability. Its resistance to general corrosion is similar to that of 440C stainless steel, but it has much greater fracture toughness. S53 steel is double vacuum melted (i.e., vacuum induction melted and then vacuum arc remelted or "VIM/VAR") for high purity, leading to much greater fatigue strength. Because of its high resistance to corrosion and ultra high strength and toughness combination, S53 steel is being used in demanding landing gear and helicopter rotor shaft applications without the use of toxic cadmium coatings. The figures below demonstrate the significant corrosion resistance improvement of Ferrium S53 alloy versus 300M. The images show performance after expsoure to 1000 hr salt fog test per ASTM G49.