Naked Science Forum

Non Life Sciences => Chemistry => Topic started by: thedoc on 03/02/2016 00:50:12

Title: What is the best material for a bistable spring?
Post by: thedoc on 03/02/2016 00:50:12

John Stagge asked the Naked Scientists:
   What is the best material to use for a bistable spring for it to last the longest?
You did a video on bistable springs and I am doing some research on this type of spring.  We are using this spring for a cell phone case for a mount, a grip and a kickstand.  We are using this but in testing we can only get about 7000 clicks out of it before the springs starts to crack or split.  We are using a form of steel now like most tape measures with a lot of Manganese in it.  Would using a form of stainless steel be a better material for this application?
What do you think?

Title: Re: What is the best material for a bistable spring?
Post by: chris on 05/02/2016 10:40:50

We did a programme on bistable structures with the engineers at Cambridge University. This is the link:

http://www.thenakedscientists.com/HTML/interviews/interview/1488/

Chris