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10 Tricks Engineers Need to Know

About Fasteners
JANUARY 11, 2015NOVEMBER 4, 2015
ENGINEERDOG.COM
1 COMMENT
Youd expect an engineer to know everything about a basic subject like nuts and bolts right? Well
fasteners are one of those topics that seem simple at rst but turn out to have much more depth than
you expected. What follows are 10 tricks on this basic subject that might surprise you!

1. Split washers have been experimentally proven to be ineective locking devices and can even
aid self loosening over time. And yet I see these things in use everywhere, so what gives?

In theory split washers (aka lock washers or helical spring washers) are supposed to work by
squishing at between the nut and the mounting surface when you tighten them. At this point the
sharp edges of the washer are supposed to dig into the nut and mounting surface to prevent counter
clockwise rotation.
In practice a lock washer is unable to gain any purchase and does not actually prevent rotation.
The only time a split washer might prove useful would be for fastening onto soft easily deformed
surfaces such as wood.
The evidence against split washers started stacking up in the 1960s when a gentleman named
Gerhard Junker published some of his lab experiments. He invented a machine specically for testing
the eect of vibrations on threaded fasteners. The rst thing he discovered was that transverse
vibration loads generate a much greater loosening eect than do axial vibrations. Good to know.

(hfps://engineerdog.les.wordpress.com/2015/01/transverseaxialloading.jpg)
His second discovery was made by plong the bolt tension vs vibration cycles to create a preload
decay chart. When he compared the preload decay of a bolt & split washer combo to bolt by its
lonesome, he found that the split washer caused the connection to loosen sooner, as seen below.

(hfps://engineerdog.les.wordpress.com/2015/01/preloaddecaychart.jpg)
Not to worry, there are befer locking options available. Chemical lockers like Loctite, deformed
thread lock nuts, and Nyloc nuts should be your everyday goto locking devices. If you have some
money to burn then wedge lock (Nordlock) washers are probably the best way to go.
When lives are on the line you may want to employ a positive locking device such as a castle nut or
a slofed nut. No amount of vibration will break this kind of connection:

(hfps://engineerdog.les.wordpress.com/2015/01/castlenut.jpg)Since this one is sure to stir things

up when you mention it the guys at the oce, Ive provided my sources below. (In any case, Im
aware that anecdotal experiences will vary and some older resources might even claim that split
washers are eective. Its probably also the case that some people just want to believe that these things
work. To all this I say, show me the data!)
A)Page on boltscience.com
(hfp://www.boltscience.com/pages/Why_nuts_and_bolts_can_self loosen.pdf)
B) Helical Spring Washers (hfp://www.boltscience.com/pages/helicalspringwashers.htm)
C)pdf le from hillcountryengineering.com
(hfp://hillcountryengineering.com/wp
content/uploads/2011/10/SplitLockwashersSeparatingMythfromTruth.pdf)
D)Awesome video showing actual testing and how preload decay charts are generated.
(hfps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgwmuZuJ02I)
Before I move on to the next one I need to clarify the dierence between static loads and fatigue
loads. Static loads do not change over time. If a bolt is rated to yield at 3,000 lbs of tension, any static
load less than that will not have a permanent eect. However, if you were to vary that applied load

over time you can fatigue the bolt until it breaks using less than 3,000 lbs! In the same way that a small
stream can carve out the Grand Canyon, fatigue loads gradually chip away at the structural integrity
of fasteners over time.

(hfps://engineerdog.les.wordpress.com/2015/01/staticvsfatigue.jpg)
2. The relationship between fatigue load and the number of cycles until bolt failure occurs can be
predicted using experimentation. It turns out that you can make reasonably accurate predictions of
the cycle count at failure by performing as few as three experiments (though I would recommend
doing at least 6 to afain some real accuracy). All it takes are a few data points and a regression line to
create a high cycle fatigue life curve (aka an SN curve).

(hfps://engineerdog.les.wordpress.com/2015/01/fatiguelife.jpg)
We dont put the ultimate static loading on the graph, but if we did it would be the highest point on
the applied load axis and the zero point on the cycles axis.
Why is this useful? Now that you know bolts can break from small fatigue loads, imagine trying to
build a bridge using riveted or bolted connections. How could you trust that you ever had a big
enough fastener? It turns out that fatigue loads below a certain threshold will never cause the fastener
to break. As a very general estimate, a bolt will require an innite number of cycles to break if the
fatigue load is around 30% (+/15%) of the ultimate static load. You can expect the bolt to break in a
few thousand cycles if the fatigue load is about 80% (+/10%) of the ultimate static load. (Note: the
exact percentage can vary dramatically based on material composition and ambient conditions.)

3. For maximum strength tighten your bolts all the way to yielding. This will seem insane when you
understand it but the fact is that a fastener will experience zero change in load as long as the applied
forces are less than the fastener maintained compressive force. A tight bolt doesnt even know you are
tugging on it! Take a look at the image below to help visualize this. If the fastener is clamped up to its
yield point of 1000 lbs static force, then the clamped sections will act as a single entity until the
applied load is greater than 1000 lbs. In what seems like a direct contradiction to lesson #1, the bolt
will withstand innite cycles of fatigue loading up to 999.9 lbs! Yeah, Science Bitch!

(htps://engineerdog.les.wordpress.com/2015/01/pic1.jpg)
To be crystal clear, as you tighten the nut the bolt will compress the two parts together. The bolt
itself has an internal reaction force equal to the amplitude of the compression force, but the bolt itself
is in tension. If you were to graph the tension on the bolt while you tighten the nut, the plot would
look like the graph below. To get the greatest clamping force out of the bolt we want to tighten it all
the way up to the yield point. Any more force and the bolt will enter the plastic region and
permanently deform.

(hflps://engineerdog.les.wordpress.com/2015/01/forcedisplacementcurve.jpg)
4. It is actually quite dicult to determine the exact load the fastener sees during clamping. We
now know we want to tighten a bolt up to its yield point, but how do we know when it is yielding?

For everyday purposes the clamping force can be approximated by measuring the tightening
torque. You can look up the recommended tightening torque for a given fastener size in my bolt
sizing calculator (hfps://engineerdog.com/2014/09/06/freeresourcetheboltsizingcalculator/)
or in a table like the one found here
(hfp://www.repairengineering.com/bolttorquechart.html#top). An alternate method is called the
turn of the nut wherein you tighten the bolt until it feels snug before rotating it another 90 degrees
to ensure adequate tightness.
Those methods work OK for most things, but some critical applications require you to be certain of
the clamping force (think spacecraft or large weights above your head). The torque method has
dicultly accounting for friction and lubrication, but at least the torque is mathematically correlated
to the clamping force. On the other hand the turn of the nut method uses rotational displacement to
bypass lubrication aects, but it doesnt even consider forces at all.
There are a couple of befer options. Load indicating washers can accurately verify bolting loads by
squishing open a paint sack after reaching a specic load. The drawback with these is that they only
work once. hfp://www.boltscience.com/pages/tighten.htm
(hfp://www.boltscience.com/pages/tighten.htm) The other option comes from a company called
smart bolts who came out with a fastener featuring a builtin tension indicator. This is by far the most
accurate method of measuring bolt clamping load. On the other hand, a single box of these bolts can
cost around 10 times as much as a standard fastener!

(hfps://engineerdog.les.wordpress.com/2015/01/smartbolts.jpg)
Neat, I just wish I could aord one.
5. If youve ever designed a part with a threaded hole, you may have wondered:How many threads
do I need to make a strong connection?The answer is that it varies, but six at most. (Nuts typically
have no less than three internal threads).
Bolts actually stretch very slightly when force is applied, which causes the loading on each thread to
be dierent. When you apply a tensile load on a threaded fastener, the rst thread at the point of
connection sees the highest percentage of the load. The load on each successive thread decreases from
there, as seen in the table below. Additional threads beyond the sixth will not further distribute the
load and will not make the connection any stronger.

(hfps://engineerdog.les.wordpress.com/2015/01/6threadsatmost.jpg)
6.Have you ever seen a fastener labeled with a 2A or 3B rating and wondered what that meant?
That numberlefer combo is used to indicate the thread class of the fastener. Thread classes include
14 (loose to tight), A (external), and B (internal). These ratings are clearance ts which indicates the
level of interference during assembly.
Class 1 is a good choice when quick assembly and disassembly is a priority.
Class 2 is the most common thread class because it oers a good balance between price and quality.
Class 3 is best used in applications requiring close tolerances and a strong connection.
Class 4 is precision tight, typically used for lead screws and such.
7.All fasteners are available with either coarse or ne threads and each option has its
own distinct advantages.
Finely threaded bolts have slightly larger crosssectional areas than coarse bolts of the same diameter,
so if you are limited on the bolt size due to dimensional constraints, choose a ne thread for greater
strength. Fine threads are also a befer choice when threading a thin walled member. When you dont
have much depth to work with, you want to utilize their greater number of threads per inch. Fine
threads also permit greater adjustment accuracy by requiring more rotations to move linearly.
On the other hand, coarsely threaded bolts are less likely to be cross threaded during assembly. They
also allow for quicker assembly and disassembly, so choose these when you will be reassembling a
part often. If the threads will be exposed to harsh conditions or chemicals, a coarsely threaded
fastener should be considered for its thicker plating/coating. Coarse ly threaded fasteners are much
more commonly available in the united states.
8.Would you expect a bolt to be stronger or weaker at very high temperatures? How about at
cryogenic temperatures? Most people answer weaker to both question, but being weaker at both
temperatures doesnt even make sense when you think about it. Why would steel be strongest at
whatever typical room temperature happens to be? Its not. As a rule, metals are strong & briflle at
low temperatures and soft & ductile at high temperatures, within their solid phase temperature
range. Room temperature is just another nonextreme point on the curve.

(hflps://engineerdog.les.wordpress.com/2015/01/testtemperaturechart.jpg)
9. You can make bolted connections more resistant to shear loads by using clever design instead of
larger bolts. For maximum strength, try to use the correct thread length for the connection. In the
image below you can see two connections which are identical except that the one on the right has a
properly sized thread length. It exposes the bolt shank (rather than the threads) to the applied load at
the connection seam. All else remaining the same, the connection on the right will be stronger
because the shank has a larger crosssectional area and no stress concentrations.

(hfps://engineerdog.les.wordpress.com/2015/01/pic2.jpg)
Another clever trick is to design connections so that the applied load will be on multiple sections of
the bolt, as opposed to just one section. In the images below there are two connections. The one on
the right is twice as strong as the one on the left because it would have to shear the bolt o in two
places to become free. Also, the single shear conguration can also lead to bending loads on the
fastener.

(hfps://engineerdog.les.wordpress.com/2015/01/pic3.jpg)
10. Have you ever cursed the day you were born because you just stripped out a Phillips head screw?
While it is nice that Phillips screw drivers dont slip o screws like at heads do, its a real pain when
the head can no longer be rotated because the screw head has melted into a hollow cone.
As frustrating as that is, it turns out that Phillips head screws are designed to strip out via the
tapered point and rounded edges. The technical term is called a camout and every time it happens
the relative surface motion wears out your screw. Alternate screw heads like torx and pozidriv are
specically designed not to camout.
If fascinating facts about fasteners are your thing then you should check out Carroll Smiths
Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners, and Plumbing Handbook
(hfp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0879384069/ref=as_li_tl?
ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0879384069&linkCode=as2&tag=engin09
20&linkId=Y2LZRM5OCZMKQHPI><img) aka Screw to Win. (Actually every book by Carroll
Smith is pure gold.)

(hfp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0879384069/ref=as_li_tl? ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creati
ve=390957&creativeASIN=0879384069&linkCode=as2&tag=engin09
20&linkId=Y2LZRM5OCZMKQHPI><img)
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One thought on 10 Tricks Engineers Need to Know

About Fasteners

Justin says: JULY 15,

2016 AT 4:15 PM
I dont think that is the case. I think the spring washer actually (at least in current usage) is to
increase preload with a controlled deformation. When you have say a safety item with 10.9 grade
steel to the preload it will start to deform the steel of say more than 980 MPA steel. This causes a
preload that puts the energy back into the tightening torque and not the strain energy of the steel.
Basically it controls your torque limit so you can keep it fastened (without torquing the nut) but
still maintaining the preload to prevent loosening from NVH or light brushing torques. Basically,
lower loosening and install torques but still same preloads and tolerancing.
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