Material for Helical Springs
The material of the spring should have high fatigue strength, high ductility, high resilience and it should be creep
resistant. It largely depends upon the service for which they are used i.e. severe service, average service or light
service.
Severe service means rapid continuous loading where the ratio of minimum to maximum load (or stress) is one-half
or less, as in automotive valve springs.
Average service includes the same stress range as in severe service but with only intermittent operation, as in engine
governor springs and automobile suspension springs.
Light service includes springs subjected to loads that are static or very infrequently varied, as in safety valve
springs.
Made from
The springs are mostly made from oil-tempered carbon steel wires containing 0.60 to 0.70 per cent carbon and 0.60
to 1.0 per cent manganese. Music wire is used for small springs. Non-ferrous materials like phosphor bronze,
beryllium copper, monel metal, brass etc., may be used in special cases to increase fatigue resistance, temperature
resistance and corrosion resistance.
spring elements
A spring is a type of mechanical link, which in most applications is
assumed to have negligible mass and damping. The most common type
of spring is the helical-coil spring used in retractable pens and pencils,
staplers, and suspensions of freight trucks and other vehicles. Several
other types of springs can be identified in engineering applications. In
fact, any elastic or deformable body or member, such as a cable, bar,
beam, shaft, or plate, can be considered as a spring. A spring is
commonly represented as shown in Fig. 1.18(a). If the free length of the
spring, with no forces acting, is denoted l, it undergoes a change in
length when an axial force is applied. For example, when a tensile force
F is applied at its free end 2, the spring undergoes an elongation x as
shown in Fig. 1.18(b) while a compressive force F applied at the free
end 2 causes a reduction in length x as shown in Fig. 1.18(c).
A spring is said to be linear if the elongation
or reduction in length x is related to the
applied force F as
F = k.x
where k is a constant, known as the spring
constant or spring stiffness or spring rate.
The spring constant k is always positive
and denotes the force (positive or
negative) required to cause a unit
deflection (elongation or reduction in length) in the spring. When
the spring is stretched (or compressed) under a tensile (or
compressive) force F, according to Newton’s third law of motion,
a restoring force or reaction of magnitude -F1or +F2 is developed
opposite to the applied force. This restoring force tries to bring the
stretched (or compressed) spring back to its original unstretched or
free length as shown in Fig. 1.18(b) (or 1.18(c)). If we plot a graph
between F and x, the result is a straight line according to Eq. (1.1).
The work done (U) in deforming a spring is stored as strain or
potential energy in the spring, and it is given by
W
W =K . δ K=
δ
3 4
8W D n Gd
δ= 3
K= 3
Gd 8D n
Where
K = a constant, known as the spring constant or spring
stiffness or spring rate
W = Axial load on the spring
δ= Deflection of the spring, as a result of an axial load W.
G = Modulus of rigidity for the material of the spring wire.
d = Diameter of the spring wire.
D = Mean diameter of the spring coil Axially loaded helical spring.
n = number of coils
4
(.08)(3)
K= 3
=¿
8 ( 39 ) (3)
Square and ground ends
