Solid Height - Spring Manufacturers Institute

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Grow Your company with SMI. Learn Through SMI’s educational programs. Rise To meet today’s challenges with the competitive advantages SMI can bring you. Connect To key relationships with others in your industry. Solve Your problems with SMI’s technical resources. Today’s economic challenges require a proactive response. Strengthen your company by joining SMI today. Visit www.smihq.org for more information or call (630) 495-8588. 48 SPRINGS July 2006 tored closely since “extra” grinding can result in thin tips, which can break off and cause their own set of problems. If the shop floor can find no creative way to achieve the needed solid height with the required coils and material size, it is the function of Engineering to find a way – whether by changing the material size or coil count, or amending the solid height callout. All of these adjustments will require permission from the customer, in most cases, before any changes can be made. Correction: In the last issue of Springs, I discussed wire types (“The Quick and Easy Material Review, April 2006, page 47). In the article’s last section, titled “Material Selection,” I made mention that it would be in everyone’s best interest to replace a given material with another of equal or better quality, both for engineering reasons and economic ones. It was brought to my attention that I did not specify that this be done ONLY with the customer’s approval. All changes require customer approval. No material should be altered from an existing print unless a customer has been contacted and has provided a revised print or deviation form, signed off by the responsible engineer. v
Titanium Suspension Springs for Production Motorcycles The first production motorcycles equipped with titanium shock springs are now in dealer showrooms. The 2006 Yamaha YZ model motocross bikes are the first motorcycles anywhere to be produced with lightweight titanium springs as original equipment. Four of the five machines in the YZ line carry the new shock springs (rear suspension springs). Chuo Spring Co. Ltd. (CHKK), Aichi, Japan, manufactures the springs for Yamaha from Timetal LCB titanium, a patented alloy supplied by Timet Automotive in Morgantown, PA. Light weight is critical to motorcycle performance, especially for motocross bikes, which must accelerate and decelerate as rapidly as possible to be competitive. Motocross courses typically have many turns, hills and jumps, and put strong emphasis on the dynamic characteristics of a motorcycle. Agility and strength are valued at a premium, as are power and light weight. Titanium, with its exceptional strength and very low mass, offers motorcycle designers and engineers certain characteristics not found in other materials, and its use is growing strongly in motocross and other performance motorcycle applications. The five 2006 YZ model Yamaha motocross bikes range from 146 lb. to 220 lb., and compete in one amateur and two professional racing classes that are extremely competitive. Because all of the bikes from different manufacturers that compete in these Less costly alloy brings titanium’s benefits to motocross rear suspension springs By Kurt Faller Timet Automotive classes are very light weight and closely matched in performance, exceptional weight-management engineering can yield significant results. A small relocation of weight can improve handling; a small reduction in weight can yield a critical performance advantage. The Titanium Pacesetter Yamaha has been the pacesetter in taking advantage of the benefits of titanium in production motocross bike applications. To gain the performance benefits of lower reciprocating weight in its four-stroke engines, Yamaha in 2001 was the first to use titanium engine valves. The intake valves were made of the traditional Timet alloy, Timetal 6–4 (Ti-6Al-4V); and the exhaust valves were produced from a patented Timet high-temperature alloy, Timetal 1100 titanium. Reduced valve weight means less reciprocating mass, faster revving and a higher redline, producing more power for improved performance. For the 2004 model year, Yamaha introduced the first titanium exhaust-system head pipe and heat shield on production motorcycles, reducing weight and lowering the center of gravity of the four-stroke engine models. At the same time, titanium foot pegs were installed to save a few ounces more. For model year 2006, the Yamaha YZ125 and YZ250 two-stroke models, and the YZ250F and YZ450F four-stroke models all carry titanium shock springs, marking the first time production motorcycles from any manufacturer have been fitted with titanium suspension springs as original equipment. Yamaha claims the new springs offer “outstanding strength and fatigue tolerance” and reduce unsprung weight for improved suspension performance. The Timetal LCB springs vary in size and specification from model to model, but they are typically 30 percent lighter than the steel springs on the comparable 2005 model and weigh 1.1 lb. (500 g) less than their steel counterparts. A Lower Cost Titanium Spring Alloy Engineers have long understood that the strength, density and modulus of titanium, among SPRINGS July 2006 49
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