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Europa-List: Re: Metallurgy and undercarriage legs

Subject: Europa-List: Re: Metallurgy and undercarriage legs
From: clivesutton <clive.maf@googlemail.com>
Date: Thu, 3 May 2018 01:29:44

Hi Jonathan,  

My two-pennarth is that there really may only be a handful of experts in the 
whole
World who could give a fully informed answer to your question.  Phase diagrams,
microalloy additions, stress intensity factors - it's another world . .
. 

However, general steel industry knowledge tells me that as per many spring steel
grades, susceptibility to fatigue-cracking is made worse by the introduction
of surface blemishes induced by e.g. corrosion, dents/local impacts and even
factory surface hardening treatments like carburisation.  So the risk of 
creating
surface stress-cracks during a local bend repair for the typical grades used
(AISI 6150 et al), is high.  

But your S6 friend may find the following EAA article more informative and 
authoritative
and save themselves a lot of grief . . .

https://www.eaa.org/en/eaa/aviation-communities-and-interests/homebuilt-aircraft-and-homebuilt-aircraft-kits/resources/building-articles/landing-gear-wheels-and-brakes/spring-steel-landing-gears

Quoting here from a paragraph within it:- 

"You may as well face it, rebending and heat treating a spring steel gear leg in
your own work shop, with a single welding torch, is not practical. You simply
cannot get enough uniform heat on it, over a wide enough area, to allow you
to bend the metal without inducing stress cracks. Countless builders have tried
to anneal and straighten, or rebend, the gear legs themselves but only a few
have succeeded while many have thoroughly botched the job"

I hope useful

regards,


clive.

--------
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.  
Mahatma
Gandhi


Read this topic online here:

http://forums.matronics.com/viewtopic.php?p=479805#479805



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