Belleville washers and other disc spring styles can be used singly or in stacks to achieve a desired load and travel. In general, they function best under conditions requiring a very high load in confined space or short travel. Under these constraints, it is often not practical or even possible to use a coil spring. In disc spring stacks, particularly those with parallel units, friction should be considered. Sliding friction is created at the disc’s adjoining, moving surfaces. As a result, the deflection which occurs when loading a stack of discs will lag as the stack is unloaded (hysteresis). This characteristic may be taken advantage of in shock or oscillatory loaded systems needing damping.
If you stack 6 discs in parallel, you gain 6 times the load capacity of a single disc, but your maximum deflection is that of a single disc. For example, using part# CDM-63203, you would achieve a total load of 222 lbs (37×6), an O.H. .078″, but a deflection of .006″.
If you stack 5 discs in a series, you achieve 5 times the deflection of one disc, but the same load as a single disc. For example, using part# CDM-63203, you would achieve a total load of 37 lbs, an O.H. of .089″, and a total deflection of .030″.
Belleville washers stacked in series and parallel in combinations can be arranged to produce almost any load-vs.-deflection trend that you need (linear, progressive, regressive, etc.)