When NASA’s Perseverance rover touched down on Mars in 2021, one of its most critical tools was a magnetic sensor tasked with mapping the Red Planet’s magnetic field—a key to understanding Mars’ lost atmosphere. But this sensor faced a brutal challenge: Mars’ surface temperature swings from -153°C at night to 20°C during the day, while cosmic radiation bombards it 24/7. To survive these extremes, the sensor’s core component wasn’t a high-tech alloy or synthetic material—it was Armco SLH Pure Iron, a material that has proven itself as a "space-tough" workhorse in the harshest environments.

Why would NASA trust a pure iron alloy with such a mission? The answer lies in Armco SLH’s unique combination of thermal stability and magnetic consistency—two traits that are make-or-break for space equipment. Unlike ordinary metals, which become brittle at ultra-low temperatures or soften at moderate heat, Armco SLH maintains its mechanical and magnetic properties across a temperature range of -200°C to 350°C. Its tensile strength, for example, only drops by 5% when cooled to -150°C, compared to a 30% drop in stainless steel. This means the Armco SLH component in Perseverance’s sensor doesn’t crack in Mars’ frigid nights or warp when the sun heats the rover’s body.

Equally important is Armco SLH’s magnetic stability in radiation. Cosmic rays and solar flares can disrupt the crystal structure of many materials, altering their magnetic properties over time. But Armco SLH’s high purity (99.995% iron content) and uniform lattice structure make it resistant to radiation damage. In tests at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Armco SLH samples exposed to the same radiation levels as Mars showed no measurable change in magnetic permeability after 5 years—far exceeding the rover’s 3-year mission lifespan. "We need materials that don’t ‘forget’ their job in space," says Dr. Lisa Rivera, a materials scientist at Goddard. "Armco SLH doesn’t just meet that bar—it sets it."

Armco SLH’s role in space isn’t limited to Mars rovers. It’s also a key component in Earth-orbiting satellites, particularly those used for weather monitoring and communication. The European Space Agency’s (ESA) MetOp satellites, which track global weather patterns, use Armco SLH Pure Iron in their magnetometers—devices that measure the Earth’s magnetic field to calibrate other sensors. In the vacuum of space, where there’s no air to cool equipment, Armco SLH’s low thermal expansion coefficient (11.8 × 10⁻⁶/°C) prevents the magnetometer from warping as it heats up in sunlight or cools in Earth’s shadow. This stability ensures the MetOp satellites can provide accurate weather data for up to 15 years—double the lifespan of earlier satellites that used conventional steel.

Even as NASA and ESA plan missions to the Moon and beyond, Armco SLH Pure Iron is evolving to meet new challenges. In 2023, Armco partnered with the University of Michigan to develop a "radiation-hardened" version of SLH Pure Iron, which adds trace amounts of titanium (less than 0.01%) to further strengthen its crystal structure against cosmic rays. Early tests suggest this new variant can survive the radiation levels of deep space—critical for future missions to Jupiter or Saturn, where radiation is 1,000 times stronger than near Earth.

For most people, space exploration is about rockets, rovers, and groundbreaking discoveries. But behind every successful mission is a material that can withstand the universe’s worst conditions. Armco SLH Pure Iron may not be as glamorous as a rover’s camera or a rocket’s engine, but it’s the quiet backbone of space science. It’s the reason Perseverance can map Mars’ magnetic field, MetOp can predict hurricanes, and future missions can venture deeper into the solar system. In the end, exploring space isn’t just about technology—it’s about finding materials tough enough to keep that technology working, even when the universe tries to break it. And Armco SLH Pure Iron has proven it’s up to the task.

SLH was founded in 2006. One of the largest sellers of High Purity Iron (Armco Iron) in China. SLH is now focusing on producing and selling High Purity Iron for Remelting Usage and Electronic Applications, they are widely used in producing high-quality alloy metals, magnetic materials, special steel etc., Sales amount has reached more than $150 million each year.

We provide users with various specifications and models of electrical pure iron round steel (￠10mm-￠180mm), electromagnetic pure iron plates, pure iron coils (≠0.5mm-≠250mm), electrical pure iron forgings (￠100mm-￠350mm), electrical pure iron wire rods (￠2mm-￠42mm), electrical pure iron slabs (220*1250*3000), electromagnetic pure iron cold-drawn straight bars (￠3.0mm-￠50mm), raw pure iron square billets (40*40*500, 50*50*500, 70*70*600, 110*110*600, 140*140*600, 220*220*1250, 250*250*1250), etc.

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