Design and production of flat spring

[mishaois1]

Hi,

I want to design and produce part that one of its planes will be fixed and the other plane will be used as a spring for small movements (up to 10 degrees)- photo is attached.
I want the spring to be activated from ~200N.
The manufacturing process that i will use is bending.
Spring length is ~30mm
Thickness- 2mm
I am looking for a suitable material that will for this type of applications.
I know that carbon should fit, but at this point i would prefer it to be some kind of steel with simple bending production process.
If someone is experianced with this kind of applications and can share some information regarding the correct material or some informative articles- that would be great!

Thanks

 

[3DDave]

10 degrees over such a short span is very likely to break most materials.

You should be able to determine the strain required and then find a material that can take that strain. I notice you have a crease in the part which will function as a stress concentration, interfering with the function as a spring.

 

[mishaois1]

What movments do you think will work for this kind of geometry with hardened and tempered carbon steel?

 

[GregLocock]

The only obvious candidate is rubber. Any steel will snap, either on the first cycle or soon thereafter, not helped by the feature that reduces the effective length of the spring. 10 degrees over 30mm on a 2mm section is a strain of... well you can work that out.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

 

[Compositepro]

The drawing shows a part that was was designed specifically not to bend. Strange question.