The Potential of Using Heat-Treated Spring Steel in Functional Body Parts for Weight Reduction

This paper examines the opportunities and challenges posed by applying heat treated spring steel to body functional components for weight reduction. Applications examined include static applications (mounting brackets or other fixing hardware for body functional components), moving sub-components (static structural parts included as sub-components to machine part assemblies), and fully functional flexible assemblies (replacement of the functions of a machine part possessing multiple moving components with a single part or sub-part using the inherent strength and flexibility of the material).