What type of metal is in the frame, that makes it bendable but can go back to its original shape?
Why does the frame not just stay bent when you bend it? 🤯
If I bent a metal coathanger it would stay in the bent shape.
Hoping someone knows the finer details of this sorcery!
Example beach tent pic: https://images.app.goo.gl/bJyDzwGTV9RbA7Zz7
In: 0
You can make a lot of different alloys of steel with various properties. The types used in tent poles are in a category often refered to as spring steel. They have high yield strength meaning that you have to use a lot of force before they yield and permanently deform. However they tend to have lower tensile strength so they will bend more easily. This is very different from hardened steel which have a much higher tensile strength and require a lot of force to bend even a little bit but they have a much lower yield strength so they will permanently deform almost as soon as they start bending. Note also that modern popup tents tend to use glass fiber rods instead of steel rods but the basics of the material properties is still the same.
Similar items I’ve used a thin band of spring steel.
Spring steel can bend a lot further than the mild steel used in a coat hanger and still bounce back to its original shape. Have you ever played with a binder clip?
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binder_clip](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binder_clip)
You can open them up quite wide, and they return to their original shape.
But “thin” is also key to the wire in the tent not being permanently bent. The thinner a material is, the sharper it can be bent before the bend is permanent.
Elasticity is the ability of an object to return to its original shape after being stretched or compressed. The fibers in beach pop-up tents are elastic, meaning they can be stretched and then return to their original shape. This is why beach pop-up tents do not lose their shape when they are popped up.
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