Cutting-edge test lab brings spring development forward

The Lesjöfors company in Herrljunga, Sweden, has taken a new, exciting approach to be at the forefront of spring development. Here, the group has established a test lab for materials and springs.

The Lesjöfors Group has made important investments in further developing its specialist competence in materials and spring development. The new laboratory has two orientations; one focusing onspring tests and the other focusing on material tests. The latest market-leading equipment has been purchased and now the lab is ready to be taken into use. The reason for the labs’ location is that a substantial expertise is already in place at Lesjöfors Industrifjädrar. The company has expanded a smaller spring lab with skilled staff into a dedicated center for research and development.

Material strength tests

The material lab is a completely new specialization and includes equipment for test preparation such as cutting, casting, grinding, polishing and etching. After the sample is prepared, hardness testing with Vickers at loads ranging from 10 g to 10 kg can be done, and the metallurgical characteristics can be studied at up to 1000x magnification in a light microscope.

Stefan Musslinder, technical manager of the Lesjöfors Group comments on the new opportunities the test lab gives:

“It is important to increase the understanding of how different materials work in different situations and applications in order to be able to offer material choices that are optimal for our customers' individual requirements and conditions. This is a major step that will further strengthen our competence.”

Close studies of the spring properties

In the spring lab, staff can investigate individual springs’ properties. It can be fatigue properties, relaxation, creep and elasticity limits, but also secondary phenomena such as side loads, stability and load symmetry.

“The purpose of the lab is partly to meet an increasing need of testing from our customers, but above all for us to be able to develop our production processes and increase our knowledge of springs and the materials. We hope that the test lab will become a European center for spring development in the future", says Stefan Musslinder.