1. Higher strength. Under the same design conditions, the weight of stainless steel propeller can be significantly reduced compared with that of copper alloy, and its impact resistance is better. It can also prevent stern bearing wear and reduce the Moment of inertia of propeller.
2. Longer lifespan. As the Corrosion fatigue strength and cavitation erosion resistance are several times or even more than ten times of that of copper alloy, the life of propeller is improved. Especially in polluted seawater, stainless steel has more advantages.
3. Lower noise. The blades can be thinned and made into multi bladed propellers, which not only improves the propulsion efficiency of the propeller, but also reduces the vibration and noise of the propeller. Moreover, stainless steel has a stronger ability to prevent the attachment of marine organisms.
4. More resistant to low temperatures. Under the same temperature conditions, the low-temperature embrittlement transition temperature of stainless steel alloy is significantly reduced, while the low-temperature impact toughness is significantly improved. Therefore, stainless steel propellers are the preferred material for propellers of ice grade ships. The MV Xue Long research ship in China uses stainless steel propellers.
5. Higher torque. Due to its high strength, it is beneficial for the design of large skewed propellers. Under high propulsion torque conditions, stainless steel materials are more suitable, resulting in greater thrust. An example is the stainless steel propeller with a diameter of 11m used by the large Japanese oil tanker "Nishi".
