spring manufacturing

All precision spring manufacturers understand that one of the most important issues with springs is their performance. If the spring isn’t reliable, the equipment it is a part of may fail or perform much less efficiently than it should.

Because of this, manufacturers and product designers need to go to great lengths to determine what affects spring performance. More importantly, they need to understand how that performance can be enhanced so that the equipment functions as effectively and efficiently as possible.

Here are a few of the factors that determine spring performance.

Spring Stress

During the spring design phase, our designers look at how the spring will be affected by work stress when extended. They can then plot an estimation of how long the spring should last given the kind of workload it’s under.

Sometimes the design itself can lead to additional stress being placed on the spring, such as when the loop bends are too small or when tooling marks are created. Different end loops can also affect performance because the most common place for a spring to break is near the area where the hook and the spring body connect.

Spring Wear

The amount of wear a spring undergoes also contributes to its performance. When the spring is closed, the coils touch each other, which can cause the contacting parts of the spring to wear. This, in turn, reduces the amount of material on each coil, which increases the amount of stress that coil is used.

The same is true if the spring is inside of a shaft or bore. If the spring touches the sides of the shaft, it can cause wear on the spring, causing the spring to fail sooner than anticipated.

The Quality of the Spring Material

Finally, the quality of the surface material is also important. Lower quality material can cause fatigue cracks to spread more quickly and farther than with a higher quality material. These cracks cause additional wear and stress on the spring, causing it to fail quickly.

There are a few methods that can be used to improve the spring’s surface quality, including shot-peening. This technique actually includes bombarding the spring’s surface with tiny rounded beads that create miniscule stress that actually makes it harder for fatigue cracks to spread.

Work with the Best

At the Yost Superior Co., we have a dedicated team of spring engineers who understand what goes into creating customizable spring that perform under any conditions. Whether you need a small or large order, contact us today to get started.