Different Types of Spring Washers and Its Maintenance Tips
Spring washers are specific types of washers which are also known as disc springs. These products are utilized in a variety of applications for various purposes. It is basically used to eliminate rattle or sounds, regulate the tension in the assembly, compensate the contraction and expansion of the materials after the assembly process and so forth.
Six Different Varieties
These products are available in mainly six different varieties which include the following.
Crescent: This type of spring washer is used for flexible and lighter loads. It helps to produce a small deflection in a uniform rate.
Belleville: These products are widely used in thermal expansion application and problems related to vibration. It is specifically designed to withstand compression for many years without deformation. It is constructed in stainless steel and carbon steel. It can support high loads for a longer period of time.
Finger: Another type of product is the finger washer which has projecting flanges. These products are quite ideal for the reduction of noise and vibration.
Dome: Although it is quite similar to the crescent washers in appearance, it is a round curve. It can support high loads with less deformation.
Single wave: It is also quite similar to the crescent shaped products but the load points are flattened in the single wave washers. It is designed to reduce the abrasion in sensitive surfaces easily.
Wave: It is basically used as spacers or cushions as it supports moderate load with less deformations. This product is shaped with multiple waves.
All these types of products have different load capacities and deformation ratios. Therefore it is quite important to consider the features and capacity ratio of each product before using it for specific purposes.
Steel is one of the most common materials used to manufacture these products due to its high strength and durability. Apart from steel, various other types of metals are also used to manufacture these products. Nickel chrome, steel nickel alloy, copper alloy and so forth are some of the other types of metals which are used to manufacture these products.
Maintenance Tips
As most of the spring washers are made of steel, it is bound to become rusted in due course of time. However, there are some important tips which can be followed to prevent corrosion.
Metallic coating: One of the best ways to prevent corrosion is by using metallic coatings such as nickel, zinc and cadmium. All these coatings provide high quality protection to the washers.
Phosphate coating: Application of zinc phosphate coating along with corrosion resistant oil is another method to prevent rusting of these products.
Metal spray: Although metal sprays are less adhesive compared to the other types of coating, it can be used for large springs.
Electroplating: This is another method which is utilized to prevent corrosion of steel products.
Chemical plating: In this process, the steel products are coated with nickel and phosphor alloy. This plating process offers excellent corrosion resistance.
A variety of washers can be bought from many of the reputed online stores at various price rates.