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Metal stiffness calculation

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MHWood

Materials
Jun 18, 2003
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I am in the automotive metal stamping field and a customer has asked us to calculate the increase in stiffness of a stamped part if we increase the thickness by "x" amount or if we increase the strength by "y" amount. It has been a long time since engineering mechanics for me ('73) and I would appreciate some help in calculating this. Thanks.
 
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Stiffness or resistance to elastic deflection, is a function of Modulus of Elasticity and Moment of Inertia, related to geometry.

Since you are working with a stamping it is safe to assume it is a rectangular cross section and the primary loading is in bending. It really depends on the overall geometry and load pattern but for a simply supported beam in bending with a rectangular cross section, the moment of inertia is bh^3/12 where h = thickness or dimension parallel to the bending load. Therefore if you increase thickness by x the moi becomes b(xh)^3/12 = bx^3h^3/12. In other words the stiffness increases by x^3 (x cubed). For example if you double the thickness, x=2, and x^3=8 so stiffness is increased 8 times. Or x=1.25, 25% increase, x^3=1.25^3=1.95 or almost double the stiffness.

Increasing strength will not affect stiffness. Modulus of Elasticity is the ratio of stress over strain. increasing strength does not change this ratio.

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