I would like to find out the difference of flexing between angled steel vs angled aluminum of the same dimensions under load. Is there a straight-forward way to calculate / simulate this? The size I am looking at is 1/8" thickness with 1-1/2" angled profile and 4.5ft long.
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Too many varieties of steel. You should either be more specific or run calculations for many of them. – Abel Jun 11 '24 at 19:55
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The main property you will consider is young's modulus. Depending on the loading and deflection of interest though other properties may also matter just as much (breaking = infinite deflection? Stretching a material to observe a cross sectional shrinkage?) – Abel Jun 12 '24 at 03:40
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The simple answer is that the elastic deflection would be in inverse proportion to the Young's Modulus of the material, so the steel would deflect perhaps 38% as much as the aluminium.
But, at zero load the deflection will be due to self weight, and will be roughly equal.
At higher loads there are many failure modes the simple answer does not consider. These would vary depending on how the load is applied, and the exact material properties.
Greg Locock
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