ETCHMET ALLOY FOR VOICE COIL MOTOR AND OPTICAL IMAGE STABILIZATION SPRINGS
In voice coil motor (VCM) and optical image stabilization (OIS) springs in smartphone cameras, the component requirements are constantly increasing as smartphone technology evolves. Materion engineered EtchMet® alloy—our newest ultra-high strength foil gauge strip and wire alloy—to meet and adapt to the frequently changing requirements.
Compared with commonly used copper titanium (CuTi) springs, EtchMet alloy offers many advantages for cell phone cameras, including increased life, high spring stiffness for shorter autofocus times, high durability that enables the spring to withstand impact loads without fracturing or permanently deforming and high fatigue strength that withstands repeated impact and actuation cycles.
Download the EtchMet Alloy brochure to learn more about the benefits of this material in smartphone camera applications.
MANUFACTURING AND PROCESSING BENEFITS OF ETCHMET ALLOY
- A uniform, primarily single-phase microstructure, which photochemically machines easily and makes uniform edges free of stress risers
- A material supplied fully precipitation hardened, so no further heat treatment is required
- Minimal coil set that helps alignment during photochemical machining
- Ease of soldering and welding
Download the EtchMet Alloy TM10 Data Sheet or the EtchMet Alloy TM20 data sheets for additional details.
ETCHMET WIRE ALLOY FOR SUSPENDED-LENS CAMERAS
In addition to EtchMet strip alloy, we created an EtchMet wire alloy solution to hold and control the VCM/OIS spring in cellphone cameras that have a suspended lens. With a uniform elastic modulus across all thicknesses and diameters and between all product forms, EtchMet wire provides consistent stiffness and damping behavior that makes spring calculations easier for design engineers.
Download the EtchMet Wire Data Sheet for more details.
ETCHMET VERSUS COPPER TITANIUM ALLOYS
EtchMet strip alloy outperforms CuTi alloys in stiffness and strength. See the difference in the chart below.
Alloy |
EtchMet TM10 |
EtchMet TM20 (preliminary) |
CuTi |
Elastic Modulus (Stiffness) |
131 GPa |
133 GPa |
127 GPa |
Tensile Strength |
1260 MPa |
1500 MPa |
1400 MPa |
Yield Strength |
1200 MPa |
1475 MPa |
- |
Fatigue Strength (106 cycles) |
575 MPa |
TBD |
550 MPa |
Request more information or a sample from our materials engineers and see how EtchMet alloy can improve your VCM and OIS applications.