Springs - Compression springs, tension springs, torsion springs and wire forms from spring manufacturing and wire form manufacturing at O.A.L. Spring Manufacturers (Pty) Ltd.

Springs of all types are used in our daily lives. From the compression spring in your pen, the tension springs in your garage, to the torsion spring in your clipboard. These springs all store mechanical energy and therefore have a practical use.
All types of springs require the following when calculating the spring force and design.

1. Spring material and their applications.

Commonly used spring materials include alloy spring steels, copper-base spring alloys, high-carbon spring steels, stainless spring steels and mickel-base spring alloys.
Wire types used in spring manufacturing include.

        a)Alloy spring steels.
        b)Beryllium-copper.
        c)Brass spring wire.
        d)Carbon spring steels.
        e)Chromium-molybdenum-vanadium.
        f)Cobenium, elgiloy.
        g)Hard drawn steel wire.
        h)High speed steel.
        i)Inconel.
        j)Inconel X.
        k)K-Monel.
        l)Monel.
        m)Music wire.
        n)Permanickel.
        o)Phosphor bronze.
        p)Permanickel.
        q)Stainless steel i8-8.
        r)Stainless chromium 431.

2. Spring stresses allowable.

To determine the safe working stresses of a spring the following is usually required.

        a)Spring type - compression springs, tension springs/extension springs and torsion springs.
        b)Spring design - spring index, loop and hooks aswell as general product constraints.
        c)Type of loading - this is dependent on the application such as shock loading and dynamic loading.
        d)Spring size - dependent on other application constraints and may result in small or large springs and/or long or short springs.
        e)Material of spring.
        f)Thickness of material.
        g)Service area - normal or severe.
        h)Temperature of spring during operation.
        i)Range of stress - low, average or high.

3. Spring formulas and data aswell as tolerances and characteristics.

Spring index: The spring index is the ratio of average coil diameter of a spring to the wire diameter.
Direction of coil or helix: The direction of the coil or helix can also be considered as either left hand or right hand These spring coils are often looked at as being either clockwise or anti-clockwise.