Has anyone got any experience making stainless steel leaf springs? I've come across some info on it being done, but no real details. Any info would be appreciated. Does it work? What grade stainless?
Wow , is it worth the end result ? Any task can completed , but the cost I’m sure will out weight the benefit
316L is a little more resilient than 304 and resists rust better. It can also handle the heating process better if you need to make spring eyes. Its been done for show cars, but not sure about drivers? I suspect it would be fine if you can handle the price tag.
I used to work at a spring co, doing hand made prototypes. We used a variety of materials, depending on the application. Stainless was one. Don't remember the exact specs, but some was "full hard" and others "half hard".
Old HAMB metallurgist here. There is nothing to prevent using stainless steel for a leaf spring, or coil spring for that matter. Just make sure you use the right alloy, as most springs are heat treated. That means a heat treatable grade of SS, such as 400 series or precipitation hardening type (you may have seen 17-4PH spindles as an example of PH SS). The more corrosion resistant 300 series can only be made stronger by work hardening, and would not be a normal choice. The bigger problem of SS leaf spring is just cost and special processing.
I know it seems kind of crazy with the cost, but I work at a stainless steel fab shop and a 20' lenth of 1/4 stainless FB is about $200 and I can polish them to mirror finish which would be a lot cheaper than chroming now adays. Just gotta figure the right grade, I've seen a few things saying 304 is good but then others saying no. Just gonna take a little more research I guess
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