What is the lightest spring force for fast acceleration?

[moejoe15]

I am trying to replace the leaf spring mechanism on something. The problem is that there is a lot of mass inherent in a leaf spring that has to be moved for the spring to do its work. I want to replace it with something that will lower the mass inherent in the moving part of the spring. Any lowering of the moving mass means faster acceleration applied to what the spring is activating. Overall weight must be no higher too.

Anyone know what type of spring force has the lowest inherent mass (both moving and static, total weight matters too)? (for instance a gas spring's moving mass would be the piston and static mass the housing)

 

[Travis_King]

Depends on the size of the application. For something really small, a leaf or coil would probably be lighter than a gas/hydraulic spring. For something big they might be comprable as well. In the middle it's anyone's guess.

What is the application and expected/required load capacity?

 

[Ranger Mike]

see link below..new hi tech composite leaf spring is 70 percent lighter than stock..

http://hypercoils.com/Products/Hyperco-Composite-Leaf-Springs.aspx