High Strength Wire 1

[jsy211]

Help!! I am trying to wrap .022" high strength music wire around a 2" diam. cylinder without the wire taking a permanent set when unwrapped. I am currently using a zinc coated music wire with the tensile strength of 365ksi, but it is still taking a slight set. I am looking for something stronger or a diferent material that will spring back straight. The material has to be electrically conductive and has to be .020-.026" in diameter. Please let me know if anyone has any ideas!!

 

[Hush]

How about Nitinol (memory metal) the same stuff they use in eyeglass frames. I don't know how strong it, how expensive it is, or how available it is, but it must be reasonably conductive because its used in electrical connectors.

 

[gbent]

jsy211:
My engineering is rusty for the math, but you need to calculate the bending stress in the wire. Then you need to find a metal with the elastic limit above that bending stress. Since you are not breaking the wire, the uts is not the issue. When you exceed the elastic limit, the part takes a perminant set.

 

[GregLocock]

gbent is on the money. You are applying a 1% strain to the wire, so you need to use a steel wire with a yield stress of greater than 2100 MPa (assuming E is 210 GPA). To save you looking, there isn't one.

You either need a bigger drum or a thinner wire or a different material.

Carbon fibre springs to mind.

Cheers

Greg Locock

 

[TVP]

The suggestion to consider Nitinol (Shape Memory Alloy) was a good one, provided that cost isn't a major consideration. As I mentioned in the other forum, and as Greg mentions here, the strength that you need just isn't available in commercial steel grades.