ABSTRACT
A corrugated diaphragm is made by forming concentric beads or corrugations on a thin sheet of metal. The stiffness and linear range of corrugated diaphragms may be increased by increasing the depth of the corrugations. The shape and number of corrugations has a small effect on the stiffness of the diaphragm. Annealed material is usually used in the forming of corrugated diaphragms, although in some instances, especially with austenitic materials, J-hard stock may be used to increase the allowable stress. The profile of the corrugations of a diaphragm may take several shapes: "sinusoidal", approximated by tangent arcs, trapezoidal, triangular, rectangular, or toroidal. The corrugated diaphragm is anisotropic as the rigidities in the radial and tangential directions are different. Thus, because of its unique geometrical shape, the resistance to bending and stretching will be much smaller in the radial direction than in the tangential direction.
