Spring steel wire is a kind of steel wire used for making spring or steel wire parts. According to the different uses of springs, the spring wires needed to make springs are of various types, such as the spring wire used to make mattress springs (hereinafter referred to as mattress wire) with lower requirements, the spring wire used to make shock absorbers, the spring wire used to make suspension springs, the spring wire used to make engine valves, and the spring wire used to make camera shutter, etc. Although there is no uniform standard classification name, the quality requirements of these wires are different. Spring wire can also be classified according to the manufacturing process, such as raw spring wire, lead quenched spring wire, galvanized spring wire, oil quenched spring wire, etc.

The strength of spring steel wire can be in the range of 1000-3000 MPa according to the variety, standard and specification. The diameter of round spring wire ranges from 0.08-20 mm. The section shape of spring steel wire is generally round, and also rectangular, square, oval and other shapes. The finished steel wire is generally delivered in rolls, and also delivered in straight strips.

There are three types of alloy spring steel wire in China: alloy spring steel wire, oil quenched and tempered silicon manganese spring steel wire, and oil quenched and tempered chromium silicon alloy spring steel wire for valves. From the current situation of alloy spring use in developed countries, the proportion of oil quenched and tempered steel wire is increasing.