Spring Material

Music Wire

This is the most widely used of all spring materials for small springs because i t is the toughest. It has the highest strength tensile and can withstand highe r stresses under repeated loading conditions than any other spring material. It can be obtained in diameters from 0,12 to 3mm. It has a usable temperature ran ge from 0 to 120oC

Oil-tempered Wire. Music wire will contract under heat, and can be plated.

This is a general purpose spring material used for spings where the cost of musi c wire is prohibitive and for sizes outside the range of music wire. This mater ial is not suitable for shock or impact loading. This material is available in diameters from 3 to 12mm. The temperature range for this material is 0 to 180 oC..Will not generally change dimensions under heat. Can be plated. Also ava ilable in square and rectangular sections.

Hard-drawn wire

This is the cheapest general purpose spring steel and is should only be used whe re life, accuracy and deflection are not too important. This material is availa ble in sizes 0,8mm to 12mm. It has an operating range 0 to 120oC

Chrome Vanadium wire

This is the most popular alloy spring steel for improved stress, fatigue, long e ndurance life conditions as compared to high carbon steel materials. This mater ial is also suitable for impact and shock loading conditions. Is available in a nnealed and tempered sizes from 0,8mm to 12mm. It can be used for temperatures up to 220 oC. Will not generally change dimensions under heat. Can be plated.

Chrome-silicon wire

This an excellent spring material for highly-stressed springs requiring long lif e and/or shock loading resistance. It is available in diameters 0,8mm to 12mmm and can be used from temperatures up to 250oC. Will not generally change dimen sions under heat. Can be plated.

Martensitic Stainless steel wire

This is a corrosion, resisting steel which is unsuitable for sub-zero conditions .

Austentic Stainless steel wire

A good corrosion, acid, heat resisting steel with good strength and moderate tem peratures. Has low stress relaxation. Spring Brass

This is a low cost material which is convenient to form. It is a high conductiv ity material. This material has poor mechanical properties. This metal is freq uently used in electrical components because of its good electrical properties a nd resistance to corrosion. Phosphor Bronze

Popular alloy .Withstands repeated flexures. This metal is frequently used in e lectrical components because of its good electrical properties and resistance to corrosion. Suitable to use in sub-zero temperatures. They are much more cos tly than the more common stocks and cannot be plated. Generally will not chang e dimensions under heat. Beryllium Copper

High elastic and fatigue strength. Hardenable. They are much more costly than the more common stocks and cannot be plated. Generally will not change dimensi ons under heat. Nickel base alloys

These alloys are corrosion resistant. They can withstand a wide temperature flu ctuation. The materials are suitable to use in precise instruments because of their non-magnetic characteristic. They also poses a high electrical resistance and should not be used as an electrical conductors. Titanium

Used mainly in aerospace industry because of its extremely light weight and high strength. This material is very expensive, It is dangerous to work as titaniu

m wire will shatter explosively under stress if its surface is scored. Size ran ge 0,8 to 12mm. Generally will not change dimensions under heat. Cannot be p lated. Spring Material Strength Values

Important Note..It is important to note that it is best to obtain springs from s pecialists suppliers who can provide the correct material for the specific appli cation. If springs are being designed for specific applications then strength v alues should be obtained from the relevant standards as identified above. Care should be taken to include for fatigue and adverse operating conditions. The n otes on this page are for rough spring designs.

The material structure , the manufacturing process, and the heat treatment all h ave an influence on the strength of the spring material. The strength of spring materials vary significantly with the wire size such that the strength of a sel ected spring material cannot be determined without knowing the wire size. The s tandards identified all list the material strengths against the wire sizes.

The tensile strength versus the wire diameter is almost a straight line when plo tted on log-log paper . The equation for this line is..

Sut = A / dm

The table below provides some typical values for the above variables.. Material Music Wire Oil-Tempered Hard Drawn Diameter Range(mm) 0,1 to 6,5 0,5 to 12 0,7 to 12 0,145 0,187 0,190 0,168 0,108 0,146 0,263 2911 0 0,028 0,064 1000 913 932 Exponent m 2211 1855 1783 2005 1975 1867 2065 A (MPa)

Chrome_Vanadium 0,8 to 12 Chrome_Silicon 1,6 to 10 302-Stainless 302-Stainless 302-Stainless Phos-Bros Phos-Bros Phos-Bros 0,3 to 2,5, 2,5 to 5 5 to 10 0,478 0,1 to 0,6 0,6 to 2,0 2,0 to 7,5

In calculating the spring parameters the torsional yield strength (S ys ) is use d.