04 · Reference
The presets the engine ships with. Both tools also accept a custom material, so this list is a starting point rather than a limit.
room temperature, typical values
Al7075-T6 gives the highest yield strength of the common aluminium alloys at effectively the same stiffness, so it buys margin at the beam root without changing the sensitivity. It machines cleanly at the small section sizes these flexures need.
Gage strain scales with 1/E, so switching between aluminium alloys barely moves the reading — under 6% across the three listed here. Yield strength, on the other hand, varies by nearly a factor of two and decides how much overload the sensor survives.
17-4PH at H900 is roughly 2.7× stiffer than aluminium, so the same geometry reads about 2.7× less strain. Compensate with a thinner or longer flexure, and take the payoff in overload capacity and in a far better temperature match to a steel mounting structure.
The calculator and optimizer both accept a custom material: Young's modulus, Poisson's ratio and yield strength. Use the values for your actual temper and stock form — handbook figures for a different heat treatment will quietly move the safety factor.
Property values are nominal figures for design work. Confirm against your supplier's certificate before releasing a drawing.