10/22/2020 DANotes: Springs: Fatigue analysis example

EXAMPLE

The spring of the preceding example is made from ASTM A229 oil tempered wire. It is proposed for a
non-critical application in which the load varies between a maximum of F and a minimum of 0.4F.
What maximum load can the spring withstand indefinitely ?

Material properties for 4 mm diameter oil tempered wire are, from Table 2 :
Sut = ( 2630 + 4 x ( 2180 + 56 x 4))/( 1 + 4 x ( 1.6 + 0.08 x 4)) = 1410 MPa
Sus = 0.63 Sut = 888 MPa ; Ses = 0.13 Sut = 183 MPa ; Sys = 0.48 Sut = 677 MPa
The solid stress of 625 MPa, evaluated previously, does not exceed this yield, so the spring will not be
permanently deformed when solidified during assembly.

Operating stress components from ( 4a) with F in Newtons :

Fm = ( F + 0.4F)/2 = 0.7 F ; τm = 1.08 x 8 x 0.7 F x 6.5 / 42π = 0.782 F MPa
Fa = ( F - 0.4F) /2 = 0.3 F ; τa = 1.22 x 8 x 0.3 F x 6.5 / 42π = 0.379 F MPa

Inserting these into the Goodman design equation ( 4a) with a safety factor of say 1.1 :
0.782 F / 888 + 0.379 F / 183 = 1 / 1.1 whence F = 310 N is the maximum load capacity.

The small safety factor should be noted. It is justified because it relates to material properties which
have been derived from lower bounds of a great amount of data which has not needed any theoretical
correction for size or for surface finish - in other words, there is considerable confidence in the material
properties. An additional argument for the small safety factor here is the non-critical application.
This example might have been tackled by first assuming a dummy load and then scaling the result
appropriately.

Copyright 1999-2005 Douglas Wright, doug@mech.uwa.edu.au

last updated May 2005

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