is steel flexible?

Question

would you consider steel a flexible substance...i am debating this with my coworkers.
Thanks,

Answer 1

Yes, steel is flexible. Springs, like the ones holding up your car, are made out of steel. One reason why steel skyscrapers do so well in earthquakes is because steel is flexible. Piano wires are made out of steel. High tension wires for electric power transmission are made out of steel. Even a solid block of hard steel can actually bend and spring back, although it's very hard to see this tiny flexure.

Answer 2

Steel already is that flexible. If you bend it elastically, it will return to its original position when you remove the force that is bending it. If you bend it beyond its yield point, then the deformation becomes permanent. For a steel strip like the one you've described, bending it about it's thinner dimension could easily cause permanent deformation if you bend too far. I don't know that you have access to temperatures that would allow you to change the properties of the steel bar you have. It is very hard to heat steel to those temperatures without steel mill equipment, or at least blacksmithing equipment. Perhaps if you could tell us what the function of the steel is, and why you need it to bend elastically, and that would allow us to give you better answers. EDIT: You need to try to determine what kind of stresses the steel will see, based on the loads it will have to handle with these impacts. You have the dimensions of your steel strip, treat it as a beam, determine the loading, and analyze it. Make an educated guess as to what kind of steel it is and look up the yield strength. If your stresses are lower than the yield strength, it shouldn't be permanently bent. Am I understanding your configuration correctly, the axle will be attached in the middle of the length and each end is fixed? What is causing the loading, a person's weight? How hard will the impacts be - bumps in a road, landing from a height, etc.? EDIT 2: If my assumptions from the last question are correct, you can apply 62 pounds to the axle and still be good - this is with no safety factors included. This number is for a stationary load, I'd need more specifics about the accelerations behind the impacts to determine how much weight it could actually deal with under dynamic loading. How many of these strips do you have? Multiple strips laying on one another could provide more shock absorption - like the leaf springs on a truck. My 62 pounds is based on the steel being A36, which is pretty common for every day use, having a yield strength of 36 ksi.

Answer 3

Yes, looking at it from an engineering standpoint. Depending on it's shape it can be used for many applications where flexibility is important. Steel springs for example, or guitar strings. Whenever you're debating these kinds of matters, it is important to keep in mind that the use of a material depends on the shape, the size and the weight it's going to be used in. A big block of steel will be used in a different manner as a piece of steel wire.

Answer 4

Steel is a flexible material. It can be deformed and return to it's original shape up while the stress applied is still in the elastic range. How flexible depends on size, shape, and alloy. Some alloys are more flexible than others and a lot of this is controlled by carbon content.

Answer 5

Ever seen a steel spring? It is flexible, don't you think. Or a steel knife blade?

Flexible means it can be deformed and then return to its original shape. Steel does that very nicely.

Answer 6

Yes, all steel is flexible, even if only slightly.

Answer 7

Yes, but how flexible is dependent on the size & shape of the structure.

Answer 8

flex·i·ble (flĕk'sə-bəl) pronunciation
adj.
1. Capable of being bent or flexed; pliable.
2. Capable of being bent repeatedly without injury or damage.
So, yes, while steel is in the elastic range, by definition, is flexible.

Answer 9

Yes.

Answer 10

I would say yes because of when temperature changes it contracts and expanses.