How to find the right Mechanical Flat Springs AI guide
Written by an AI model from its trained knowledge.
What the AI looks for in Mechanical Flat Springs
- Material for the environment
- Match the alloy to conditions: carbon spring steel such as 1095 for strength at low cost, 301 or 17-7 stainless for corrosion, beryllium copper or phosphor bronze for electrical contacts. Each alloy trades off strength, corrosion resistance and conductivity, and the wrong one fails early or corrodes.
- Temper and hardness
- Specify spring temper (hardened, or hardened after forming), not annealed strip. Annealed or soft strip takes a permanent set after the first deflection and stops springing back.
- Deflection within the elastic range
- Keep working deflection below the point where the part takes a set. If in doubt, check the stress against the maker's data. Flat springs fail by permanent set or fatigue cracking when overstressed, especially at bends and holes.
- Thickness and width
- Size thickness and width to the force you need. Thickness has the largest effect on both stiffness and stress. Small changes in thickness change the spring rate a lot, so an approximate substitute can behave very differently.
- Formed features
- Keep bend radii at or above the material's minimum, and keep holes and slots away from high-stress bends. Sharp bends and nearby holes concentrate stress and are where most fatigue cracks start.
Brands that matter
- Lee Spring: A broad stock-spring supplier that also does custom flat and formed parts.
- Associated Spring Raymond: An industrial maker of stock and engineered spring components.
- John Evans' Sons: Makes flat strip springs, clips and formed metal parts.
- Smalley: A specialist in wave springs and retaining rings, for when a flat wave spring fits better than a stamped part.
What to avoid
- Plain shim stock or untempered strip used as a spring.
- Parts with rough, burred edges in cyclic applications.
- Carbon steel in damp or corrosive locations without plating or coating.
- Mixing dissimilar metals in electrical contacts without considering galvanic corrosion.
Questions
Is a wave spring a flat spring?
It is made from flat wire and often sits in this aisle. It replaces a coil spring in tight axial spaces, which is a different job from a stamped flat clip or leaf spring.