Friction Springs

Friction springs “RF” are indispensable safety components in all technical areas where sudden forces and kinetic energy must be absorbed or if springs with high force are required with relatively small dimensions. Friction springs “RF” are used where large kinetic energy must be absorbed and damped or a relatively small spring size is required to withstand high forces. The application areas of friction springs “RF” are very diverse. Three main performance aspects are offered here, which can also be combined with each other: Overload protection, displacement compensation and energy absorption. Friction springs “RF” consist of outer and inner rings that contact each other on their tapered surfaces using a special lubricant. If an axial load acts on the spring column, the conical surfaces slide against each other and each ring is elastically deformed. This means that the outer ring is expanded and the inner ring compressed. The resulting spring stroke is calculated from the change in diameter of the elastic deformation ring and its cone angle.

Compared with other types of spring, the circumferential stress is distributed almost uniformly over the cross section of the loaded spring element, so that each component is utilized evenly. This results in a lighter friction spring “RF” compared to other similar spring types. The special characteristic of the friction spring is the strong frictional damping of about two thirds of the introduced energy.