Materials for high elastic energy storage

Some engineering applications require the material to have a combination of strength and stiffness for elastic energy storage, e.g. springs. For such applications, we consider the ability of the material to store large amount of strain energy and at the same time show high yield strength.
2
Stress

Strain energy

1 y
2 E

Strain

Selecting materials for springs

The primary function of a spring is to store elastic energy and when required release it again. Elastic energy stored per unit volume in a block of material is given by W =
2 1 2 E

For a good spring (a) W should be maximized, and (b) The stress should not exceed the failure stress f W = 1 2 2 E
y

Any other geometry of spring such as leaf spring or torsion bar will have the same form between failure stress and the elastic modulus. The axial loaded springs can store highest amount of elastic energy compared to leaf spring or torsion bar.

2
The best material for spring has the maximum value of

or, greatest value of M1 =

2y E

For lightest material that can give highest energy storage capacity the parameter would be 2 y E
Please read Section 6.9 of Materials Selection in Engineering Design by M F Ashby 2nd edtion printed in 2000

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Materials for efficient (light) springs

Materials 2f / E (MJ/m3) 10-100 15 25 15 20 15 20 10 - 12 30 60 2f / E (kJ/Kg) 5-40 2-3 23 48 3-5 10 30 12 1.5 2.5 20 50 1.5 2 20 50

Comments
Brittle in tension; good only in compression Traditional choice when weight is not an issue; poor for light weight because of high density Same performance as steel but better corrosion resistance, expensive Better in performance than steel for light weight but expensive Better than steel and as good as CFRP, cheaper than CFRP Brittle in tension but excellent if protected, very low loss factor inefficient As good as steel on weight basis but high loss factor Outstanding, 10 times better than steel but with high loss factor

Ceramics Spring steel Ti alloys CFRP GFRP Glass (fibres) Wood Nylon Rubber

Source: Page 114-115, Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, by Ashby, 2nd ed.

Selection chart based on high elastic energy storage

Ref: Fig 6.17, Materials Selection in Mechanical Design by M. F. Ashby

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103 Diamond FRC 102 Steels & Ni alloys CFRP Cu alloys Specific Modulus E/ (GPa/(mg/m3)) 101 Metal alloys 100 HDPE PTFE 10-1 Polymer foams Elastomers 10-2 10-1 100 101 102 103 104 Nylon GFRP Epoxy Engineering polymers Ceramics SiC Si3N4

y2 E

Specific Strength (f/) (MPa/(mg/m3))

Light weight Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) launching pad (150kg UAV at 20m/s and at 10G) Rubber chords

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Tensile strength vs. Compressive strength

Polystyrene Compression 12 Why some materials show high strength in compression but low strength in tension?

Stress (psi x 10-3)

8

Tension

10

20

30

Strain (%)
This figure is based on Fig. 6, Page 250, Mechanical Properties of Polymers and Composites by L. E. Nielsen and R. F. Landel, 2nd edition, Mercel Dekker Inc., NY, 1994

Strengthening of materials:
Ideal strength of materials: =E From the figure 2 E (0.25 ro)/ro E/4 / E = 1/8 A more rigorous calculation gives the ratio of strength to Youngs modulus as 1/15 = 6.6 x 10-2.

Ref: Fig. 9.1 from the textbook

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Ideal strength line

The true strength of a material is lower by several orders of magnitude below the ideal strength

Why this discrepancy?

Ceramics and polymers have the ratio of strength to modulus which is much closer to the ideal value than is for metals.

How can we explain the reductions in the strength below the idea value for ceramics, polymers and metals?

Ref: Fig. 9.2 from the textbook

Defects in ceramics: Engineering ceramics (or fine ceramics) are made when a pressed fine powdered ceramic material (such as alumina, Zirconia, Silicon nitride and silicon carbide) is sintered at high temperature in a controlled operation. Different polymorphs of C has different strength. For a well manufactured engineering ceramic, the strength is very close to the ideal strength. However, the strength of ceramics can drastically reduce in the presence of defects.

Thermocouple protection tubes Heater protection tubes Flux injection pipes Liners for transportation piping Aluminum holding furnaces Degassing equipment Burner diffusers for thermal boilers Hybrid bearings (metal cage/ceramic ball) Thermal barrier coatings

Ceramic coating applied by flame spray molten particle deposition method. (Source: Sulzer Metco Holding A. G. Wohlen, Switzerland) Al2O3 powder compact sintered at 1700 oC for 6 min (Ref. page 446 Callister 6ed )

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Defects in ceramics:
Atomic point defect -

Ref: Section 12.5-12.10, Materials Science and Engineering by Callister, 6th edition

Atomic defects involving host atoms Anions (- ions)

Cations (+ions)

Frenkel defect Schottky defect

Non-stoichiometry Deviation from the exact ratio of the cations and the anions e.g. FeO where iron can be present in both Fe+2 and Fe+3 forms

Impurities in ceramics Impurity atoms can form solid solutions in ceramics just like in metals. Both interstitial and substitutional solid solutions are possible for ceramic systems. e.g. Al2O3 Cr2O3 system; ZrO2 CaO system
Partially stabilized zirconia with lens shaped monoclinic phase in a cubic matrix. (Modern Ceramic Engineering, Mercel Dekker, NY, 1992

Surface or interior cracks Internal pores Grain corners as stress raisers The tensile strength of ceramics is limited due to the presence of defects
Even moisture or contaminants in the atmosphere can introduce surface cracks in freshly drawn glass fibers

Plastic deformation in ceramics is possible only at very high compressive stress and at high temperatures; crystalline and polycrystalline ceramics have different mechanisms of plastic deformations

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Changed in 2010

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