The selection of spring materials should be determined based on factors such as the nature of the load borne by the spring, stress state, stress magnitude, working temperature, environmental medium, service life, requirements for conductivity and magnetism, process performance, material source, and price.

When determining the cross-sectional shape and size of materials, priority should be given to the series sizes specified in national and ministerial standards, and non-standard series sizes of materials should be avoided as much as possible.

Medium and small springs, especially spiral tension springs, should prioritize the use of reinforced steel wire, lead bath isothermal cold drawn steel wire, and oil quenched and tempered steel wire. They have high strength and good surface quality, higher fatigue performance than ordinary quenched and tempered steel wire, simple processing, good craftsmanship, and stable quality.

Carbon spring steel wire and piano steel wire generate significant residual stress after cold drawing, and after processing the spring, there is significant residual stress. After tempering, the size changes greatly, making it difficult to control the dimensional accuracy. Oil quenched and tempered steel wire is modulated and strengthened after the steel wire is drawn to the specified size, with basically no residual stress present. After forming the spring, it is tempered at low temperature, with minimal size change and better heat resistance stability than cold drawn and strengthened steel wire.

For large and medium-sized springs with high load accuracy and stress, cold drawn materials or polished steel after cold drawing should be selected. For springs with low load accuracy and stress, hot-rolled steel can be selected.