Guide to Spring Materials

Springs not only vary by design, but also in the materials used to make them. In fact, when you choose a spring material, you are making an important decision about how your springs will perform. The spring material used for the construction of your springs will affect how well they do their job in your application, due to the attributes that material offers.

Spring materials are chosen for particular characteristics or features such as corrosion, water resistance, and or strength. In most cases, springs are made from one of these widely used spring materials:

• Stainless Steel – This spring material is a cold drawn general-purpose wire that offers corrosion and heat resistance.

• Music Wire – As a spring material, music or piano wire is the highest quality cold drawn, high carbon wire. It provides high strength and features a good surface finish.

• Hard Drawn MB – Cold drawn wire spring material is used for average stress applications. It provides medium strength, low cost, and it is conducive to electroplating.

• Oil Tempered – Oil tempered wire is cold drawn and heat treated before spring fabrication. It is commonly used as a multipurpose spring wire.

Less commonly used spring materials include:

• Brass – As a spring material, brass offers good corrosion and water resistance. It is not commonly used, however, due to cost and because it tends to tarnish and change color over time.

• Phosphor Bronze – Phosphor bronze is not commonly used as a spring material due to cost. Cold drawn, phosphor bronze offers good corrosion resistance and electrical conductivity.

Custom spring manufacturers offer springs and custom wire forms composed of the one of several wire materials:

Hard Drawn MB

High carbon spring steels (cold drawn) are commonly utilized spring materials. Easily worked and inexpensive, Hard Drawn MB material is not meant for low or high temperatures, impact loading or shock. When deflection, accuracy or life is not too important, Hard Drawn MB is a good choice for a spring wire material.

Stainless Steel

A cold drawn, general purpose spring wire material, stainless steel is heat/corrosion resistant and magnetic in spring temper. Alloy steels with 10 percent or more chromium provide better corrosion resistance than alloy or plain steels. Springs commonly use precipitation and austenitic hardening.

Music Wire

Music wire (cold drawn) is a high carbon spring steel that has uniform, high tensile and the ability to withstand high stress under repetitive loading. Considered the toughest of spring materials, music wire also offers an excellent surface finish. High temperature spring wires are often found in foundries, heat treating, refractories and other processing operations exhibiting extremely hot internal temperatures.

Brass Spring Wire

Brass is slightly more expensive than other spring wire materials but offers good water and corrosion resistance. Due to their sturdy flexibility, brass springs can store large amounts of mechanical and potential energy. Most brass spring wire material is a zinc and copper alloy consistently of around 50 percent copper.

Phosphor Bronze

Ideal for customized springs and wire form springs requiring medium electrical conductivity and dependable physical properties, Phosphor Bronze is a more cost-effective alternative to copper (Beryllium). This material is cold worked to achieve the desired temper.

Oil Tempered

Delivering durability, strength and malleability, oil-tempered spring material is great for springs requiring large wire diameters and the capability to support heavy-duty equipment. Oil-tempered material is also a good choice for torsion springs.

Copper-Based Alloys

Beryllium copper is one of the strongest copper-based alloys offering good corrosion resistance and electrical properties for many low temperature, marine and electrical spring applications. Custom spring manufacturers also design Beryllium copper springs for mold making, robotic welding, landing gears and oilfield tools applications.

Gaining an understanding of wire types will enable you to select the right spring material type to offer the best performance for your particular application. The spring experts at HUILIDA are here to assist you with spring wire material selection, from choosing the best characteristics for your project, to identifying a currently used spring type. For more information about custom wire forms and spring materials, contact HUILIDA METAL PRODUCTS today.