Best SS For Drive Belt

[tradigan]

Hi,

I'm reviewing different stainless steels for a drive belt application. The drive belt is .003" thick, 0.5" wide and will placed around two pulleys of 1.4" diameter. The coil vendor can provide the following materials:

301 Full Hard
302/304 Full Hard
316L Full Hard
17-7PH Condition C

The design priorites are fatigue life (maximize), corrosion resistance (maximize) and magnetism (minimize, if possible). The environment will be inside a CNC machining center. It will be protected but I would assume some splashing.

From the data it appears 301 Full Hard has higher Fatigue properties (80ksi) than 302 & 316 and on par with 17-7 Cond C. Based on my calcs yield strength isn't a deciding factor. It seems 301FH is the best choice but any feedback would be appreciated.

Thanks for the help.

Tom

 

[EdStainless]

316 will have the best corrosion resistance, and be the least magnetic.
The 17-4 will be fully ferromagnetic.

I have trouble believing that the full hard strip will have better fatigue life than something with less strength. Alloys in this condition are very notch sensitive and have very low ductility.

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Plymouth Tube

 

[tradigan]

Thanks for the reply.

The data from the mill is indicating the fatigue strength of 301 is about 43% - 45% of the tensile strength. The tensile strength of 301 varies from 75ksi in the annealed condition to 185 ksi in the full hard condition. According to the mill the fatigue strengh is then 35ksi in the annealed condition to 80ksi in the full hard condition.

The data for 302/304 & 316 indicates the fatigue strength is about 35% of the tensile strength.

I like 301FH because the elongation in 2 inches is 9% whereas all the other materials its about 1%.

I agree that the notch sensitivty could be the main issue. But for a flat belt with no features how might this come into play?

Thanks

Tom

 

[ApC2Kp]

tradigan,

Check the Belt Technologies design manual, Table 6, materials and discussion on belt life versus drive pulley diameter.

http://www.belttechnologies.com

 

[EdStainless]

You have made an error. The fatigue strength, as a percentage of the UTS will change with the amount of cold work. You need to find reverse bending fatigue data on cold worked strip.

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Plymouth Tube