BACKGROUND

QuesTek originally developed Ferrium® M54® 

in response to the U.S. Navy’s Small Business 

Innovation Research (SBIR) solicitation N07-032, 

“Innovative Material for Enhancing Landing Gear 

Life.” The objective of this Phase 1 solicitation was 

to develop an improved alloy at a lower cost than 

current materials such as 4340, 300M, and Aermet® 

100 used at the time in landing gear applications.1

Phase 1 of the solicitation also specifically called 

for designing the alloy through modeling and 

simulation with feasibility confirmed through 

limited coupon testing. As the innovation process 

proceeded and in response to the needs of the 

U.S. Navy, the application shifted to a replacement 

for HY-TUF steel used in the T-45 hook shank on 

U.S. Navy carrier aircraft. 

Founded in 1997, QuesTek Innovations LLC is a 

small business recognized as a global leader in 

Integrated Computational Materials Engineering 

(ICME). The company, which carried out 55 Phase 

I SBIR/STTR projects and 23 Phase II projects 

from 2002-2015,2 uses its proprietary Materials 

by Design® method for developing a range of 

materials. While QuesTek provided materials 

and process design expertise as well as the 

overall project management for the Ferrium® 

M54® innovation, they also engaged a number 

of partners in the production of the material 

and the T-45 hook shank itself, especially at the 

intermediate and commercial scale. Specifically, 

the following companies had important roles in 

the innovation process:

• Latrobe Specialty Metals Company, which was 

acquired by Carpenter Technology in 2011

• SIFCO Forge, a division of SIFCO Industries, Inc. 

• Bodycote, specifically in the area of heat 

treating 

• Pankl Aerospace Systems, especially in the 

areas of machining and final part assembly

Materials Innovation Case Study: QuesTek’s Ferrium® M54® Steel for Hook Shank Application 1

SUMMARY

QuesTek’s Ferrium® M54® steel for application in U.S. Navy hook shanks is a notable materials innovation 

that serves as a current time-to-market baseline for a structure-critical aerospace product. Developed 

and first commercialized in four years with formal qualification three years later, this innovation was 

accelerated by the application of computational modeling tools and extensive ferrous materials databases, 

staff at QuesTek and highly capable companies that they brought to the project, and the strong support 

of the U.S. Navy throughout the innovation process. Although the non-technical challenges of scheduling 

small manufacturing runs of new materials and products in commercial production schedules inhibited 

the overall timeline, this ultimately successful innovation illustrates the strong benefit of implementing the 

tools that form the core of the Materials Genome Initiative. The following case study explores the specific 

actions that led to this success in more detail through the development of a “reverse roadmap,” which 

captures and classifies the key activities that accelerated or inhibited the innovation process.

1

 Navy SBIR FY07.1 Proposal Submission Instructions, http://www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sbir/solicitations/sbir20073/navy073.pdf, accessed 01/26/16. 2 http://www.questek.com/example-projects.html, accessed 02/08/16.

NAVAIR Public Release #2016-639 Distribution Statement A: Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Materials Innovation Case Study: 

QuesTek’s Ferrium® M54® Steel 

for Hook Shank Application 
Figure 1a. Completed Ferrium M54 steel T-45 hook shank 

[NAVAIR Public Release #2014-712 Distribution Statement 

A-“Approved for public release, distribution is unlimited.”]

In addition to these companies, the U.S Navy was 

also an important partner in this project. Not only 

did they fund Phase I of the solicitation, but they 

also provided continued SBIR support and were 

the eventual customer for the T-45 hook shank 

deployed at the end of the innovation process (see 

Figures 1a and 1b).

Thanks to the efforts of QuesTek and its partners, 

the Ferrium® M54® innovation is now a premiumquality steel that offers ultra-high strength and 

toughness. Rig testing of prototype components 

demonstrated a more than doubled lifespan 

compared with HY-TUF steel and the U.S. 

Navy has estimated a $3 million savings from 

implementing the M54 product into its T-45 hook 

shanks.3 Additional applications for Ferrium® 

M54® Steel include aircraft landing gear and 

arresting tailhooks, shock struts, tow bars, drive 

shafts, actuators, blast containment devices, 

fasteners, oil and gas running cases, and other 

highly loaded components. 

REVERSE ROADMAP

The materials innovation process employed 

to develop Ferrium® M54® Steel is outlined in a 

“reverse roadmap,” which captures events that have 

already occurred, as compared with a traditional 

forward-looking roadmap. The reverse roadmap is 

presented on a time scale divided into four major 

categories: Design, Development, Manufacturing, 

and Deployment. The analytical framework in 

Figure 2 outlines the general structure of the reverse 

roadmap and can be applied to materials innovation 

processes across a broad range of materials, 

applications, and markets.4

The reverse roadmap includes four primary 

elements:

Activities that occurred over time

Discrete events occurred at a specific point in 

time (e.g., milestone)

Factors that decreased the time needed to 

complete an activity (or, “accelerators”), which 

are shown to the right of an activity pointing 

backwards in time

Factors that increased the time needed to 

complete an activity (or, “inhibitors”), which 

are shown to the left of an activity pointing 

ahead in time. 

The reverse roadmap constructed for Ferrium® 

M54® steel was developed by gathering information 

from QuesTek and other partners in the value chain 

through a combination of literature review, one-onone interviews, a workshop at QuesTek in October 

2015, and follow-up communications and reviews. 

It outlines the innovation over the nine-year period 

from the initiation of the Design stage in January 

2007 (submission of Phase I SBIR proposal) 

through the completion of the Deployment stage in 

December 2015 (completion of the first set of hook 

shanks) and is presented in stages: Design and 

Development (Figure 3a), Manufacturing (Figure 

3b), and Deployment (Figure 3c). Additional detail 

on the activities that occurred in each of the four 

stages is included in the text that follows.

Figure 1b. Location of the hook shank on the aircraft

Materials Innovation Case Study: QuesTek’s Ferrium® M54® Steel for Hook Shank Application 2

3

 J. Grabowski, “Flying Cybersteels”, presented to Steel Research Group, March 25, 2014, http://chimad.northwestern.edu/docs/SRG2014/

SRG2014_Grabowski.pdf, accessed 01/26/16. 4

 “Quantitative Benchmark for Time to Market (QBTM) for New Materials Innovation”, Report by Nexight Group and Energetics, Inc., January 2016.

4

3

2

1
Figure 2. Analytical Framework for Time to Market for Materials Innovation

INTENT TO SEEK A 

NEW MATERIAL FOR A 

GIVEN APPLICATION 

OR END USE IS 

ARTICULATED

MODELING AND 

EXPERIMENTATION AT

BENCH OR LAB SCALE 

CANDIDATE MATERIAL 

COMPOSITION(S) OR 

MICROSTRUCTURE(S) 

ARE IDENTIFIED

MANUFACTURING

TRIALS OF SELECTED 

MATERIALS 

COMPOSITION/ 

MICROSTRUCTURE 

AND SYNTHESIS AT

PRODUCTION SCALE 

FOR MANUFACTURING

PRODUCTION TRIALS, 

PRODUCT AND 

PROCESS EVALUATION 

AND MODIFICATION

A PRODUCTIONSCALE PROCESS AND 

RESULTING PRODUCT 

ARE FINALIZED 

AND STANDARDS/ 

SPECIFICATIONS 

ESTABLISHED

A COMMERCIAL 

MATERIAL PRODUCT IS 

AVAILABLE

APPLICATIONSPECIFIC TAILORING 

AND SUPPORTING 

TECHNOLOGY 

DEVELOPMENT. 

THE COMPLETE 

PRODUCT IS USED IN 

THE FIRST COMMERCIAL 

APPLICATION. 

SYNTHESIS OF LAB 

SCALE CANDIDATE 

MATERIAL 

COMPOSITION(S) OR 

MICROSTRUCTURE(S) 

FOR APPLICATION OR 

END-USE TESTING

SCALE-UP, INCLUDING 

LAB AND PILOT SCALE 

SYNTHESIS AND 

EVALUATION.

A MATERIALS 

COMPOSITION/ 

MICROSTRUCTURE AND 

SYNTHESIS APPROACH 

ARE IDENTIFIED 

FOR TRANSITION 

TO COMMERCIAL 

MANUFACTURING SCALE

START PROCESS ENDSTART PROCESS ENDSTART PROCESS ENDSTART PROCESS END

STAGE ONE

DESIGN

STAGE TWO

DEVELOPMENT

STAGE THREE

MANUFACTURING

STAGE FOUR

DEPLOYMENT
Figure 3a. Design and Development Stage

2007 2008 2009

J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D

Materials Innovation Case Study: QuesTek’s Ferrium® M54® Steel for Hook Shank Application 4

QuesTek Phase I SBIR proposal submitted

Phase I SBIR contract award made 

Phase I SBIR 

Phase I SBIR Base Final Report submitted

Phase II SBIR proposal submitted

Phase I SBIR Option Final Report submitted

Phase II SBIR contract awarded

PACE OF SBIR PROJECT AND ABILITY TO GET FUNDING FOR THE NEXT STEP Phase II “Base” SBIR

Define 

materials 

performance 

Requirements 

Matrix

Design review M54 Composition identified

Concept generation PROPRIETARY QUESTEK DATABASES QUESTEK COMPUTATIONAL MODELING CAPABILITY

Computational alloy design PROPRIETARY QUESTEK DATABASES QUESTEK COMPUTATIONAL MODELING CAPABILITY

Provisional patent filed 

Prototype static properties demonstrated

Prototype and evaluation of alloy designs

Sensitivity analysis and design 

for scale-up QUESTEK “DESIGN FOR SCALE” MODELING CAPABILITIES

Production of Ferrium M54 at full scale under 

separate contract

Patent application filed

Verify key 

mechanical 

properties on 

1500 lb heat

PARALLEL WORK UNDER SEPARATE 

FUNDING SOURCE

Production of 1500 lb heat by Metalwerks

Heat treatment process 

optimization work

Finalize materials 

specification

STAGE ONE

DESIGN

STAGE THREE

MANUFACTURING

STAGE FOUR

DEPLOYMENT

STAGE TWO

DEVELOPMENT

QUESTEK DEPENDENT ON OTHERS FOR SCALE-UP

QUESTEK IN-HOUSE MELTING AND EVALUATION CAPABILITY

ACCELERATOR Discrete event

INHIBITOR Activity over time

LEGEND
Figure 3b. Manufacturing Stage

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A M J J A S O N D J F M A

 5

ACCELERATOR Discrete event

INHIBITOR Activity over time

LEGEND

STAGE ONE

DESIGN

STAGE FOUR

DEPLOYMENT

STAGE TWO

DEVELOPMENT

STAGE THREE

MANUFACTURING

Latrobe Specialty Metals Company (now Carpenter Technology Corp.) is licensed to commercially produce and sell M54

Phase II “Option” SBIR

AIM methodology predicts A- and B-basis allowables

Latrobe Specialty Metals Company 

(now part of Carpenter Technology 

Corporation) produces 3~12 ton 

Phase II Option SBIR final report submitted

Initial forging 

contact

Case running tool for oil and gas application project

First commercial sale of M54

Data submitted to AMS committee for specification Aerospace Materials Spec 

AMS 6516 issued

MANUFACTURING EXPERIENCE FROM ANOTHER PRODUCT Input shafts for racing application project

Phase II.5 SBIR focused on hook shank application

FORGING EXPERIENCE BEFORE HOOK SHANK PART TOOL DEVELOPMENT FLOW STRESS DATA AVAILABLE FROM LAB SCALE TESTING

FUNDING FROM SBIR WITH T-45 PLATFORM 

(PMA273) AS SPONSOR NEEDED

Case running tool for oil and gas application project EXPERIMENTAL TEST PRIOR TO ACTUAL PART PRODUCTION

Bodycote developed heat treating work instructions for another 

part, not hook shank, including large scale oil quench PRIOR LARGE SCALE EXPERIENCE BEFORE PRODUCTION

New forging tool available at SIFCO SIMULATION CAPABILITY; LEARNING FROM FORGING S53 IN THE PAST

Machining 

study of M54 

vs. incumbent 

material by 

Pankl

MMPDS S-basis issued

Forging of 5 hook 

shanks by SIFCO

SIFCO DEFORM MODELING ENABLED 

FORGING PROCESS MODIFICATIONS TO 

OBTAIN DESIRED MICROSTRUCTURE

Hook shanks released

Three hook shank parts heat treated by Bodycote BODYCOTE FACILITY WELL-MATCHED FOR M54 HEAT TREATING REQUIREMENTS

Machining of hook 

shanks

PART HARDNESS IS 54 RC VS. TEST MATERIAL AT 40 RC; CHALLENGES 

RESULTING FROM A THIN WALLED PART MADE FROM A STRONG MATERIAL, 

E.G. VIBRATION; LACK OF TOOL SUPPLIER KNOWLEDGE ABOUT M54

Machining completed for 1st hook shank part 1st hook shank shipped

Machining completed for 2nd hook shank part 2nd hook shank shipped

TIME TO DEVELOP THIS DATA FOR AEROSPACE APPLICATION MMPDS A- and B-basis issued

3rd hook shank (fully assembled, painted, and sealed) shipped

Navy testing of hook shanks

FOCUS ON A SPECIFIC PART VS. 

“TECHNOLOGY LOOKING FOR 

AN APPLICATION”

SBIR PROGRAM IS ABLE TO SOLE 

SOURCE A SUPPLIER, REDUCING 

THE TIME FOR QUALIFICATION, 

CONTRACTING, ETC. FOR OTHER 

PROCUREMENTS.

PANKL INVESTED IN NEW 

MACHINING EQUIPMENT, NOT 

DIRECTLY RELATED TO M54 

DESIGN CONFIDENCE FROM AIM ANALYSIS OF PROPERTIES

Materials Innovation Case Study: QuesTek’s Ferrium® M54® Steel for Hook Shank Application
Figure 3c. Deployment Stage

2014 2015

SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

ACCELERATOR Discrete event

INHIBITOR Activity over time

LEGEND

STAGE ONE

DESIGN

STAGE FOUR

DEPLOYMENT

STAGE TWO

DEVELOPMENT

STAGE THREE

MANUFACTURING

ONSITE SUPPORT OF QUESTEK 

STAFF METALLURGIST AS PROCESS 

“NUANCES” ADDRESSED

Government releases Phase III 40 hook shank production order

Production lots of 

hook shank parts 

forged at SIFCO

First flight

Initial production lots of hook shank parts heat treated at Bodycote

NO SIGNIFICANT CHANGES 

NEEDED FOR PRACTICE BASED 

ON EARLIER TRIALS

Parts completed by Pankl

NEED TO COORDINATE DOWNSTREAM 

SUPPLIERS FOR SHOT PEENING, ASSEMBLY 

OF BUSHINGS AND BEARINGS, CD PLATING

Follow-up order for 20 hook shanks

Materials Innovation Case Study: QuesTek’s Ferrium® M54® Steel for Hook Shank Application 6
Materials Innovation Case Study: QuesTek’s Ferrium® M54® Steel for Hook Shank Application 7

5

 Navy SBIR FY07.1 Proposal Submission Instructions, http://www.acq.osd.mil/osbp/sbir/solicitations/sbir20073/navy073.pdf, accessed 01/26/16. 6 “Lower-cost, ultra-high-strength, high-toughness steel”, US Patent 9051635 B2, June 9, 2015, http://www.google.com/patents/US9051635, 

accessed 01/27/16. 

7

 G. B. Olson, “Genomic materials design: The ferrous frontier”, Acta Materialia, v. 61, 2013, pp. 771-781.

Design Stage

The Design stage occurred over an approximately 

eight-month period from January to October 

2007, beginning with QuesTek’s response to the 

Navy’s SBIR solicitation N07-032, “Innovative 

Material for Enhancing Landing Gear Life”.5 

With the contract award, QuesTek developed 

a materials performance requirements matrix 

for the improved alloy, then generated and 

computationally designed materials that could 

potentially meet the specified requirements. 

The availability of QuesTek’s existing proprietary 

databases (not publicly available) to inform the 

modeling as well as the extent of computational 

modeling capability at QuesTek were significant 

accelerators in moving toward a set of prospective 

alloy compositions. 

Through the design review process, the M54 alloy 

composition was identified as the most promising 

material and was the subject of further focus in 

the Development stage. The bench-scale melting 

and evaluation that QuesTek conducted as part 

of the process to evaluate prospective candidate 

materials also initiated the Development stage.

Development Stage

Overlapping the end of the Design stage, 

the Development stage occurred over an 

approximately 28-month period beginning in 

Sept. 2007 and concluding at the end of 2009 

with a materials specification and process for 

transition to full-scale manufacturing. Intellectual 

property protection efforts were also made in this 

stage, including filing a provisional patent in early 

2008 and a more complete filing in early 2009, 

with the eventual patent issued in 2015.6

During the Development stage, QuesTek 

used their in-house bench scale prototyping 

capabilities to evaluate the M54 composition and 

develop an understanding of the microstructures 

and mechanical performance as a function of 

processing. This effort resulted in the specification 

of a pilot material composition that was produced 

in a 1500 lb. heat by Metalwerks and processed 

into test products for heat treatment process 

testing. The need to externally process the test 

material inhibited the work’s progress, as it 

needed to be scheduled among other production 

work Metalwerks was undertaking at the time. 

The processing details identified by QuesTek 

in the Development stage were supported by 

QuesTek’s “design for scale” modeling.7 This 

modeling supported the casting process as well 

as subsequent thermomechanical processing 

needed to produce a pilot material form 

suitable for mechanical property evaluation 

and development of the materials and 

processing knowledge needed to move into the 

Manufacturing stage. The production of the M54 

alloy for another application also accelerated 

the innovation process at this stage, as QuesTek 

was able to leverage production experience and 

an understanding of the requirements for highperformance landing gear applications.

Manufacturing Stage

The Manufacturing stage was carried out over a 

54-month period from January 2010 through April 

2014. This involved enlisting the help of partner 

companies to commercialize the M54 material and 

ultimately produce commercial-ready hook shanks. 

As the M54 innovation process transitioned from 

Development stage to Manufacturing stage, 

additional SBIR funding became available through 

the T-45 platform with PMA273 as sponsor that 

enabled continued progress on the M54 materials 

innovation: Phase II “option” funding to provide 

support for the continued scale-up activities and 

Phase II.5 funding to produce the hook shank 

application. While the time required to identify 

and secure this funding was an inhibitor in the 

innovation’s progress, the SBIR program’s ability 

to sole source QuesTek as the supplier helped 

to reduce the time required for qualification and 

contracting. The available funding also focused 

the application for M54 on the T-45 hook shank. 
Materials Innovation Case Study: QuesTek’s Ferrium® M54® Steel for Hook Shank Application 8

8

 “Questek’s Ferrium® M54TM Alloy Achieves SAE AMS 6516 Specification”, August 3, 2011, http://www.questek.com/filebase/src/Press_Releases/

QuesTeksFerrium%C2%AEM54%E2%84%A2Ach.pdf, accessed 01/27/16. 9

 G. B. Olson, “Genomic materials design: The ferrous frontier”, Acta Materialia, v. 61, 2013, pp. 771-781.

10 “Questek’s Ultra-High Strength, High Toughness Ferrium® M54TM Steel Receives Approval For Inclusion In Aerospace Industry MMPDS Handbook ”, 

January 7, 2014, http://www.questek.com/filebase/src/Press_Releases/FerriumM54SteelApprovedinM.pdf, accessed 01/27/16. 11 “Machining Investigation of Ferrium M54”, http://www.questek.com/filebase/src/Articles/FerriumM54MachiningStudy.pdf , accessed 03/18/16.

With funding secured, QuesTek moved forward 

with commercializing the M54 alloy. An important 

milestone in this process was licensing the 

Latrobe Specialty Metals Company to produce 

it using their state-of-the-art vacuum induction 

melting and vacuum arc remelting (VIM/VAR) 

equipment, which enabled the production of 

the premium-quality product needed to achieve 

target mechanical properties. Latrobe produced 

three 12-ton heats of the M54 composition in the 

Manufacturing stage that helped accelerate the 

process by not only providing the materials for the 

hook shank components, but also enabling the 

development of key material specifications. The 

development of materials specifications is critical 

to the production of high-performance aerospace 

alloys used in flight-critical applications, as they 

are needed to obtain the required Aerospace 

Materials Specification designation. QuesTek was 

able to obtain this designation (AMS 6516) for the 

M54 alloy in early 2011.8

As QuesTek stabilized the manufacturing process 

and began readying M54 for commercial use, they 

also developed design allowables. To obtain a 

Metallic Materials Properties Development and 

Standardization (MMPDS) allowable designation, 

10 lots of the material must be produced. QuesTek 

used the Accelerated Insertion of Materials 

(AIM) analysis technique9 along with data from 

three production heats to predict its MMPDS 

design minima. This effort gave the US Navy’s 

T-45 program office the confidence to fund 

manufacturing and rig testing of three M54 steel 

landing gear hook shanks before it was even 

approved in MMPDS,10 accelerating the overall 

innovation process.

With the alloy ready, QuesTek proceeded with 

manufacturing the hook shanks. This involved 

engaging outside companies to take on the key 

steps in the hook shank manufacturing process: 

forging of the components, heat treatment, 

machining, and assembly. The following companies 

contributed to the manufacturing process: 

• SIFCO Forge (forging supplier) – SIFCO 

leveraged their prior experience in forging 

high-performance steels of similar 

composition, such as Ferrium S53, and 

available flow stress data to assist in 

forging modeling, which proved to be a 

key accelerator. SIFCO also had specific 

experience in forging hook shanks, and had 

developed a new forging die for hook shank 

forging that enabled incorporation of flow 

stress considerations for M54. (See resulting 

forged hook shank in Figure 4.) 

• Bodycote (heat treatment) – Bodycote 

was well suited to heat treat hook shank 

components, as their equipment set-up 

matched the M54 alloy’s needs well. In 

addition, Bodycote’s prior experience in 

heat treating another M54 part for oil and 

gas application with a similar process flow 

accelerated the process of identifying a 

suitable heat treatment approach. 

Figure 4. Forged Ferrium M54 Hook Shank

• Pankl (machining and assembly) – Prior 

to the machining of the hook shank parts 

themselves, QuesTek facilitated a machining 

study of M54 versus Aermet® 100 to develop 

production parameters.11 As processing 

moved to the machining of the actual heat 

treated M54 parts, some machining issues 

arose, resulting from some machining 

processes being carried out in an initial study 

on a material with lower hardness (Rc 40) 
Materials Innovation Case Study: QuesTek’s Ferrium® M54® Steel for Hook Shank Application 9

12 “Materials Genome Initiative for Global Competitiveness”, June 2011, https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/microsites/ostp/materials_

genome_initiative-final.pdf, accessed 12/30/15.

versus the actual parts (Rc 54), as well as 

the part geometry, specifically thin-walled 

sections. In addition, inexperience on the part 

of the tooling supplier with the M54 material 

was an inhibitor. Pankl did help accelerate the 

process through a recent investment in new 

machining equipment that, while not directly 

related to the M54 hook shank production, 

was beneficial to it. 

In parallel with the process development for the 

M54 hook shank parts, QuesTek worked on other 

applications for the M54 alloy. These included 

a case running tool for oil and gas application 

as well as input shafts for a racing application. 

These parallel developments provided valuable 

technical information on the processing of M54.

In the latter part of the Manufacturing stage, three 

hook shanks were completed, one of which was fully 

assembled and painted. At the conclusion of the 

Manufacturing stage, the initial hook shanks were 

available for testing by the U.S. Navy. 

Deployment Stage

The Deployment stage comprised approximately 

16 months from September 2014 through 

December 2015, initiated by a production order 

for 40 hook shanks. Somewhat coincident with 

this order was the first flight of the hook shank, a 

milestone in the innovation process. 

SIFCO forged the production hook shank parts, 

with valuable onsite support from QuesTek 

metallurgical staff to address questions as they 

arose. Heat treating at Bodycote proceeded 

without problems thanks to the work done in 

the Manufacturing stage. Pankl’s machining and 

final assembly experienced some delays due to 

the need to coordinate downstream suppliers 

for process steps such as shot peening, assembly 

of bushings and bearings, and Cd plating. 

Nonetheless, the assembled hook shanks were 

completed by the end of 2015, ahead of the 

original March 2016 promise date. This milestone 

completed the Deployment stage of the Ferrium® 

M54® materials innovation.

CONCLUSION

The materials innovation process for Ferrium® 

M54® steel was based on a foundation of 

metallurgical knowledge and incorporated bestavailable computational tools, experimental 

tools, and digital data—the three main elements 

of the Materials Innovation Infrastructure 

envisioned in the Materials Genome Initiative.12

The extent of QuesTek’s metallurgical knowledge 

coupled with its depth of expertise, breadth of 

available data, and access to state-of-the-art 

commercial computational modeling tools were 

key accelerators in the M54 Design, Development, 

and Manufacturing stages. Specifically, QuesTek’s 

Materials by Design® approach, the “design 

for scale” process modeling assisting scaleup, and the AIM-based acceleration of design 

property determination played important roles in 

accelerating the innovation process.

Inhibitors to the overall materials innovation 

process included two important, but essentially 

non-technical, components:

1. Financial support for the innovation 

process – While the SBIR funding stream that 

QuesTek relied on was valuable in providing 

the “fuel” for small business innovation and 

research for companies like QuesTek, the 

program can also slow the pace of progress 

through its funding cycles, funding levels, and 

required approval and review processes. The 

strong application-specific driver and overall 

effectiveness of the U.S. Navy team helped to 

countering this inhibitor.

2. Use of external companies in scale-up and 

manufacturing – These companies, while 

highly capable and experienced, are engaged 

in the production of a range of commercial 

products into which they have to fit trials of 

new materials and products. Faster progress, 

especially in the early scale-up work, would 

have been enabled by the availability of 

dedicated intermediate-scale development 

equipment and capabilities that could be 

accessed as needed. 
Materials Innovation Case Study: QuesTek’s Ferrium® M54® Steel for Hook Shank Application 10

The Ferrium® M54® steel innovation process is a 

strong representation of the current baseline for 

a product with a structure-critical application 

and illustrates accomplishment of the MGI goal 

of a new materials innovation in less than 10 

years. The understanding of its overall timeline, 

accelerators, and inhibitors provide important 

input to benchmarking the time-to-market for 

materials innovations.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The helpful inputs from many people that 

enabled the development of the materials 

innovation timeline are appreciated. Special 

thanks go to the QuesTek team, including Jeff 

Grabowski, Jason Sebastian, Greg Olson, Ray 

Genellie, Clay Houser, Aziz Asphahani, and Chris 

Kern. Representatives of suppliers to QuesTek are 

also gratefully acknowledged, including William 

Wellock from Carpenter Technology, Didier 

Chironi from SIFCO, Claus Jaeger from Pankl, and 

Dmytro Zagrebelnyy from Bodycote. The inputs 

provided by the U.S. Navy, especially Amy Little, 

as well as their approval for the dissemination of 

this case study, are recognized. 

The development of this case study was funded 

by the National Institute of Standards and 

Technology (NIST) and carried out by Nexight 

Group and Energetics Incorporated.