Chapter 14

Springs

14.1 Uses and Characteristics of Springs

Springs may be broadly defined as structures or devices that exhibit elastic deformation
when loaded, and recover their initial configuration when the load is removed. In most ap-
plications linear spring rates are desired (see 2.4). Because every real material has a finite
modulus of elasticity, machine elements of all types necessarily behave as “springs.” When
analyzing load sharing in redundant structures or in preloaded systems,1 or when investi-
gating vibrational response to operating loads and frequencies,2 the spring properties of
machine elements must be considered.
Usually the term spring denotes a resilient device specially configured to exert desired
forces or torques, to provide flexibility, or to store potential energy of strain for release at
a later time. Configurations that provide desirable spring behavior include helically coiled
wire (usually round or square) loaded by a force along the axis of the helix or by torsional
moments about the axis of the helix, thin flat beams (simply supported or cantilevered)
loaded in bending, and round bars or tubes loaded in torsion. These configurations, and a
few additional specialty springs, are discussed further in 14.2. A wide variety of spring
configruations are commercially available as stock items, and custom springs are readily
available from many manufacturers.

14.2 Types of Springs

Helical-coil springs are probably more widely used than any other type. As illustrated in
Figure 14.1, helical-coil springs may be used to support compressive loads (pushing), ten-
sile loads (pulling), or torsional moments (twisting). In addition to the standard helical-coil
compression spring shown in Figure 14.1(a), several nonlinear configurations designed to
solve special problems are shown in Figure 14.1(b) through (e). A typical helical-coil
extension spring is illustrated in Figure 14.1(f), and a helical torsion spring is shown in
Figure 14.1(h).
Beam springs (leaf springs) of various types are illustrated in Figure 14.2. Leaf
springs may be either single or multileaf cantilever beams subjected to transverse end-
loads, as shown in Figures 14.2(a) and (b), or single or multileaf simply supported beams
subjected to center loads, as shown in Figures 14.2(c) and (d). Multileaf springs are usu-
Some examples of springs. ally proportioned to approximate constant-strength beams (see 14.7).

1 2
See 4.7 and 4.8. See 8.6 and 11.6.

546
 Types of Springs 547
F F F
F
F
y y y
y

(a) Standard compression; (b) Variable pitch; (c) Conical; linear or (d) Hourglass; nonlinear; (e) Barrel; nonlinear;
fixed pitch; linear; nonlinear; pushes; hardening; pushes; pushes; resists pushes; resists
constant rate; pushes. resists resonance. minimum solid height. resonance. resonance.

F F T

y
y

(f) Standard closed-coil
extension; linear after
coils open; pulls.
Figure 14.1
Various helical-coil spring configurations.
(g) Drawbar; linear until (h) Helical torsion; linear;
extended to solid stop; constant rate; twists.
pulls.

Torsion bar springs, as illustrated in Figure 14.3, may be solid or hollow bars with cir-
cular cross sections subjected to torsional moments that induce angular displacements.
End attachments for torsion bar springs require special design attention to minimize stress
concentration problems. Occasionally, torsion bar springs may be made with noncircular
cross sections for special applications, but circular cross sections are more efficient.
Many other specialty springs have been devised. A few of these are shown in Figures
14.3(c) through (h). The volute spring, shown in 14.3(c), may be used when high friction
damping is desired. Rubber springs, such as the one shown in 14.3(d), provide high damping
as well, and have been successfully used as “shock insulators” for mounting heavy equipment
such as automotive engines. Pneumatic springs, such as the two-convolution bellows arrange-
ment shown in Figure 14.3(e), are basically columns of confined gas, properly contained so
that the compressibility of the gas provides the desired displacement behavior. Belleville

P Figure 14.2
P
Various beam spring (leaf
y
spring) configurations.
y

(a) Flat cantilever; constant cross section; (b) Multileaf cantilever; approximates
linear; pulls or pushes. uniform strength cantilever; linear;
pulls or pushes (if properly oriented).

y
P

y
(c) Flat simply supported constant cross section; (d) Multileaf simply supported; positive arc height
linear; pulls or pushes. (camber); approximates uniform strength beam;
linear; pushes or pulls (if properly oriented).
548 Chapter 14 / Springs

Figure 14.3
Torsion bar springs and a few other
speciality springs. ␪ ␪

T T

(a) Torsion bar; linear; twists. (b) Torsion tube; linear; twists.

F F
F
y
y
y

(c) Volute spring; (d) Rubber spring; (e) Two-convolution

embodies friction high damping; bellows pneumatic
damping; pushes. may push, pull spring; controlable
or twists. spring rate; adjustable
load capacity; pushes.
F F
F

y
F y

(f) Bellville washer; (g) Belleville washers (h) Belleville washers

high loads; stacked in series. stacked in parallel.
nonlinear; pushes.

washers (coned-disk springs), such as the one shown in 14.3(f), may be used where space is
limited and high loads with small deflections are required. By varying the dimensions of the
coned disks, or by stacking them in series or parallel, as shown in Figures 14.3(g) and (h), the
spring rate may be made approximately linear, nonlinear hardening, or nonlinear softening
(see Figure 4.21). Many other types of special-purpose springs are commercially available.

14.3 Potential Failure Modes

Springs of all types are expected to operate over long periods of time without significant
changes in dimensions, displacements, or spring rates, often under fluctuating loads. Based
on these requirements and the various spring configurations discussed in 14.2, the poten-
tial failure modes (see 2.3) include yielding, fatigue, corrosion fatigue, fretting fatigue,
creep, thermal relaxation, buckling, and/or force-induced elastic deformation (in the guise
of resonant response or “surging”). To clarify, when springs are deflected under full load,
the stresses induced must not exceed the yield strength of the material. If they do, the
resulting permanent dimensional changes may interfere with the spring’s ability to provide
required forces or deliver stored strain energy essential to subsequent operation. Similarly,
creep may lead to unacceptable long-term dimensional changes, even under static loading,
a condition sometimes referred to as “set.” If operating conditions include elevated
temperatures, thermal relaxation must not produce unacceptable changes in dimensions or
reduction of load-supporting capability. Fluctuating loads, often applied to springs, may
lead to fatigue failure. Corrosive environments may make matters even worse, giving rise
to accelerated failures due to corrosion fatigue. Fretting conditions between leaves of
 Spring Materials 549
multileaf springs, between torsion bars and attached lever-arms, between washers of
stacked Belleville springs, and any other configurations where cyclic strains induce small-
amplitude sliding between contacting surfaces of spring elements may lead to fretting fa-
tigue failures. Like columns, axially loaded open-coil compression springs may buckle if
they are too slender or exceed critical deflections. When cyclic operating frequencies are
close to the resonant frequency3 of a spring, erratic force-displacement behavior may be
induced because of wave propagation phenomena, sometimes called “surging.” The pre-
vention of surging is especially important for helical-coil spring applications.
As always, it is an important design responsibility to identify probable failure modes
at the design stage, for the particular application at hand, and select an appropriate mate-
rial and geometry to minimize the likelihood of potential failures.

14.4 Spring Materials

Material selection guidelines established in Chapter 3, together with failure mode discus-
sions of 14.3, suggest that candidate materials for springs should have high strength (ulti-
mate, yield, and fatigue), high resilience, good creep resistance, and, in some applications,
good corrosion resistance and/or resistance to elevated temperatures. Materials meeting
these criteria include carbon steel, alloy steel, stainless steel, spring brass, phosphor
bronze, beryllium copper, and nickel alloys. Any of these spring materials may be formed
into bars, wire, or strip by various hot-forming or cold-forming processes.
Cold-formed spring wire is produced by cold drawing the material through carbide dies
to produce the desired size, surface finish, dimensional accuracy, and mechanical properties.
Spring wire may be obtained in annealed, hard-drawn, or pretempered conditions. Strength
properties of many materials are strongly size dependent, as illustrated in Figure 14.4.
Flat wire is produced by passing round wire through the rolls of a flattening mill, then
quenching and tempering the flat strand to obtain the desired properties. Spring steel strip
is produced by subjecting hot-rolled strip to a cleaning operation, followed by a combina-
tion of cold-rolling and thermal treatments to obtain the properties desired.
After the wire or strip material is coiled or formed, a shot-peening, strain-peening, or
presetting operation is sometimes used to enhance fatigue resistance.4 Corrosion resistance
may be enhanced by coating, plating, or painting the spring.
Spring wire materials that are widely used by the spring industry include 5:
1. Music wire (highest quality; highest strength; widely used)
2. Oil-tempered steel valve spring wire (high quality; high strength; limited sizes)
3. Oil-tempered steel spring wire (good quality; good strength; often used)
4. Hard-drawn steel wire (inexpensive; modest strength; used for static loads)
5. Alloy steel wire (for elevated temperatures to 230°C; high quality; high strength; e.g.,
chrome-vanadium, chrome-silicon)
6. Stainless-steel wire (good corrosion resistance for elevated temperatures to 260°C;
high quality; high strength)
7. Beryllium copper wire (good conductivity; high strength; excellent fatigue resistance)
8. Nickel alloy wire (good corrosion resistance for elevated temperatures to 600°C; e.g.,
Inconel X-750; high cost)
Ultimate strength properties for many of these materials may be closely approximated
by the empirical expression

3 4 5
See 8.2 and 8.6. See 5.6 and 4.9. See ref. 1.
550 Chapter 14 / Springs

Wire diameter (in.)

0.004 0.008 0.020 0.040 0.080 0.200 0.400 0.800

450
3000

ASTM A228 music wire (cold-drawn steel) 400

Minimum ultimate tensile strength (MPa)

Minimum ultimate tensile strength (ksi)

2500
350
ASTM A313
(302)
2000 300
ASTM A401 (Cr-Si steel)
ASTM A229
ASTM A227 250
ASTM A232 (Cr-Va steel)
1500 ASTM A230 (oil-tempered carbon steel) ASTM A229 (oil-tempered
200
carbon steel)
Inconel alloy X-750 (spring temper)
ASTM A227 (hard drawn
ASTM B159 (phosphor bronze) 150
1000 carbon steel)
ASTM A313 (302
stainless steel) 100
500
50

0 0
2 3 4 5 6 789 2 3 4 5 6 789 2 3 4 5 6 789
0.10 1.0 10.0
Wire diameter (mm)

Figure 14.4
Minimum ultimate tensile strengths of several spring wire materials, as a function of wire diameter.
(From ref. 2 with permission of Associated Spring, Barnes Group, Inc., Bristol, CT.)

Sut = Bd a (14-1)

where Sut = ultimate strength in tension

d = wire diameter
a = exponent
B = coefficient

Using data from Figure 14.4, the exponent a and coefficient B may be evaluated for
five of the materials, as shown in Table 14.1. For materials not included in Table 14.1, ul-
timate strengths may be read directly from Figure 14.4. Commonly available stock wire
sizes in the diameter ranges shown in Table 14.1 are listed in Table 14.2. Springs are usu-
ally cold-formed when wire diameters are less than 10 mm (3冫8 inch), and hot-wound when
wire diameters exceed 16 mm ( 5冫8 inch).

TABLE 14.1 Values of a and B for Five of the Materials Shown in Figure 14.4
Diametral Range of Exponent Coefficient B,
Material Validity, in (mm) a ksi (MPa)
Music wire 0.010–0.250 (0.25–6.5) - 0.1625 184.6 (2153.5)
Oil-tempered steel 0.020–0.625 (0.5–16) - 0.1833 146.8 (1831.2)
Hard-drawn steel 0.020–0.625 (0.5–16) - 0.1822 141.0 (1753.3)
Cr-Va alloy steel 0.020–0.500 (0.5–13) - 0.1453 173.1 (1909.9)
Cr-Si alloy steel 0.031–0.437 (0.8–11) - 0.0934 220.8 (2059.2)
 Spring Materials 551
TABLE 14.2 Commonly Available Spring Wire Stock Diameters1
in mm in mm
0.010 0.25 0.092
0.012 0.30 0.098 2.50
0.014 0.35 0.105
0.016 0.40 0.112 2.80
0.018 0.45 0.125
0.020 0.50 0.135 3.50
0.022 0.55 0.148
0.024 0.60 0.162 4.00
0.026 0.65 0.177 4.50
0.028 0.70 0.192 5.00
0.030 0.80 0.207 5.50
0.035 0.90 0.225 6.00
0.038 1.00 0.250 6.50
0.042 1.10 0.281 7.00
0.045 0.312 8.00
0.048 1.20 0.343 9.00
0.051 0.362
0.055 1.40 0.375
0.059 0.406 10.0
0.063 1.60 0.437 11.0
0.067 0.469 12.0
0.072 1.80 0.500 13.0
0.076 0.531 14.0
0.081 2.00 0.562 15.0
0.085 2.20 0.625 16.0
1
Custom wire sizes also available at extra cost.

Flat steel spring stock is usually made of cold-rolled AISI 1050, 1065, 1074, or
1095 steel, typically available in annealed, 1冫4 hard (pretempered), 1冫2 hard, 3冫4 hard, or
full hard condition. Automotive leaf springs have been made from various other fine-
grained alloy steels such as SAE 9260, SAE 6150, and SAE 5160. In all cases, hard-
enability must be adequate to ensure a fully martensitic microstructure throughout the
entire spring cross section. Properties for flat spring steel strip and other materials of
interest are shown in Table 14.3, and preferred widths and thicknesses are given in
Table 14.4.

TABLE 14.3 Typical Properties of Selected Spring Alloy Flat Strip1

Sut, Rockwell Elongation (2 in),
Material ksi (MPa) Hardness percent
Spring steel 246 (1700) C50 2
Stainless 302 189 (1300) C40 5
Monel 400 100 (690) B95 2
Monel K500 174 (1200) C34 40
Inconel 600 151 (1040) C30 2
Inconel X-750 152 (1050) C35 20
Beryllium Copper 189 (1300) C40 2
Phosphor bronze 100 (690) B90 3
1
From ref. 2.