about stainless steel out doors

[stanny123]

This is a query about stainless steel out doors. I made a slide at work when it was in the shop everything was flat.
When it was fitted about amouth later parts have bowed could this be due to the weather? eg. hot or cold.

 

[SMF1964]

That is a distinct possibility. You could have bowing if you have different materials for the side rails that have a different thermal expansion coefficient. Heat transfer differences between the edges and the middle of the slide where the edges cool faster than the middle would also give you bowing.

 

[TemperedMartensite]

I doubt it is due to thermal expansion. The delta in size would be rather small within a normal temperature range for the outdoors. I bet the parts have seen less than a 20C shift in temperature over the course of a summer.

 

[SMF1964]

It's not so much the change in size but how much constraint there is to that change in size. It does not take much change in size to ramp up the stress if that change is constrained. For example, if we use 30E6 psi for young's modulus, 17.3E-6 in/in/°C for the thermal expansion coefficient of stainless steel and a 1 foot x 1 foot door panel, you get some pretty significant stresses if you are constraining that miniscule expansion. A thin enough panel will bow/buckle to accomadate that expansion. Over time, flexing of the panel within a constraining frame will experience local yielding that can accumulate.

 

[IRstuff]

What kind of "slide?"

How much bow?

TTFN

FAQ731-376