PSN-L Email List Message
Subject: Re: Steel vs. other materials
From: Barry Lotz barry_lotz@.............
Date: Tue, 27 Jan 2009 06:24:35 -0800 (PST)
Brett
What about carbon fiber leaf springs? I Googled graphite sheets and a brief=
look indicated they might be to thin.=20
Regards
Barry=A0=20
--- On Sun, 1/25/09, Brett Nordgren wrote:
From: Brett Nordgren
Subject: Re: Steel vs. other materials
To: psn-l@..............
Date: Sunday, January 25, 2009, 2:25 PM
Jim,
You didn't mention Aluminum, which is my favorite. With wood, I'd be
more=20
concerned with its response to humidity, which can be extremely large.
It's largely in the vertical designs where thermal effects are most severe,
and there the main problem is not thermal expansion, but the change in=20
spring stiffness (elastic modulus), about 20x larger than the expansion=20
number. A good feedback design can greatly reduce those thermal effects.
There had been some testing being done on a graphite leaf spring, but I=20
haven't heard anything recently.
Regards,
Brett
At 11:07 AM 1/25/2009 -0800, you wrote:
>I'm a newbie and have never built seismometer. I'm wondering why
>steel is used so much in seismometer construction when other materials
>have much less thermal expansion. Spruce wood, for example, has about
>1/7 the thermal expansion of steel. Other materials expand even less,
>quartz, graphite, some glasses and ceramics, etc. Some of the
>materials with low CTEs (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) are
>expensive (invar, tungsten, polyimide, diamond), but others are
>affordable. Spruce is inexpensive and widely available. Here are a
>couple of sources of graphite rods and other shapes:
>http://www.waleapparatus.com/catalog.asp?prodid=3D548212&showprevnext=3D1
>http://www.graphitestore.com/items_list.asp/action/prod/prd_id/25/cat_id/2=
2
>
>Simax glass is cheap and has an extremely low CTE. I wonder what kind
>of seismometer a good glassblower would make?
>
>Jim Turner
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Brett What about carbon fiber leaf springs? I Googled graphite sheets and a brief look indicated they might be to thin. Regards Barry
--- On Sun, 1/25/09, Brett Nordgren <brett3nt@.............> wrote:
From: Brett Nordgren <brett3nt@.............> Subject: Re: Steel vs. other materials To: psn-l@.............. Date: Sunday, January 25, 2009, 2:25 PM
Jim,
You didn't mention Aluminum, which is my favorite. With wood, I'd be more concerned with its response to humidity, which can be extremely large.
It's largely in the vertical designs where thermal effects are most severe,
and there the main problem is not thermal
expansion, but the change in spring stiffness (elastic modulus), about 20x larger than the expansion number. A good feedback design can greatly reduce those thermal effects.
There had been some testing being done on a graphite leaf spring, but I haven't heard anything recently.
Regards, Brett
At 11:07 AM 1/25/2009 -0800, you wrote: >I'm a newbie and have never built seismometer. I'm wondering why >steel is used so much in seismometer construction when other materials >have much less thermal expansion. Spruce wood, for example, has about >1/7 the thermal expansion of steel. Other materials expand even less, >quartz, graphite, some glasses and ceramics, etc. Some of the >materials with low CTEs (Coefficient of Thermal Expansion) are >expensive (invar, tungsten, polyimide, diamond), but others are >affordable. Spruce is inexpensive and widely available. Here are
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