Spring Design
Spring Design
Introduction
• Mechanical springs are machine elements used frequently in many
applications for the following purposes:-
Such that
Lf < 4Dm to avoid buckling of the spring
Energy stored in helical springs (U)
1 τ 2
U
2 G
Where;-
U = elastic energy absorbed by the spring coils.
Design of Extension Springs
The stresses induced in the wire of the tensile helical spring are the
same as the compressive helical springs.
The difference between the tensile and compressive helical springs is in
the end connection and consideration of buckling effects.
Considerations for Design of Helical Springs
1- Space into which the spring must be fit and operate
2- Values of working forces and deflections
3- Accuracy and reliability needed
4- Deflection required
5- Cost and quantities needed
Spring Materials
Springs are manufactured either by hot or cold-worked processes
depending; on the size of the spring wire and coil diameter, spring
index, and material properties required. In general, pre-hardened wire
should not be used if the spring index less than 4. Winding of the spring
induces residual stresses through bending in the normal direction to
the torsional stresses in the coil spring. A great variety spring materials
is available to the designer, including plain carbon steels, alloy steels,
and corrosion-resistance steels as well as nonferrous materials such as
phosphor bronze, spring brass, beryllium copper, and various nickel
alloys.
Spring materials may be compared by an examination of their tensile
strengths, where these strengths vary tremendously with the spring
wire diameter. There is a relation relates the spring strength with the
wire diameter as follows:-
A
S ut m
d
Where:-
Sut = ultimate strength of spring wire material
A, m are constants
The following table provides some types of spring steels. Refer to that
table to get the constants A, m of most famous spring materials and
hence the ultimate strength.
Helical Springs under Fatigue Loading
In this case, compute the
maximum and minimum shear
stresses and then compute the
mean and alternating stresses
resulted in the spring wire as
follows:
Factor of Safety