Gi Itis obvious that if a bolted joint is subjected to enough force, sooner or Tater, something must fail. From a design Point of view, some {pes of failures are more desirable than others, One widely accepted principle of joint design is as follows: Proper Matching of Bolt Examples of comect nut selections for given bots: ear ey o Soe sueta | sat cade 5 40,100 bs. M1620] Property Cass 109 & Nut Strengths is Critical by Joe Greenslade oy The desired mode of failure of a bolted joint is die com- plete fracturing of the bolt or screw instead of the strip- ping of the thread in the nut or in the internally threaded component. The reasoning behind this principle is simple. When a bolt or screw breaks uring initial assembly, de joint fibre is obvious. When this happens, the bro- ken bol or serew can be replaced before moce serious damage occurs in the assembly. When an internal theead strips dur- ing assembly, the joint failure is frequent 1y not abwious by visual inspection. This can create very dangerous situations in which the assembly may completely come apart and fail when the assembly ‘eins ts function and is subjected 10 ts ‘operating loads. These types of failures can result in huge financial losses and can possibly put ives in danger management The following rule should be fol Towed when nurs are selected for use with bolts or serews: Whenever possible, a nut should have a “proof load capacity” equal to or greater than the minimum “ult- ‘mate tensile strength” of the bolt or screw with which it will be used. The proof load capacity of mais ane the ultimate tensile strength of screws and bolts can be found in the various fastener standards including those pub- lished by the American Society of Test ing and Materials (ASTM), the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE), and the Snternational Standards Organization (ISO). The speeific standards used as references for this article areas follows: SAE Grade corastmase3 | 40,200%bs, Grade 8 Property Gass 10 | 1649008 = SAE 49 + ASTM ASOT + SAEJO95, + ASTM A325 + ISO 8082 + ASTM A35: + 180 8982 + ASTM Ada © ASTMAI93. «ASTM A490 + ASTM Alo |A great general reference containing data from all of these sources and more ig "Every Thing An Engineer Should Know About Threaded Fasteners,” writ ten by Alexander Blake. This book is published by Marcel Dekker, Inc. and is available from the Industrial Fastener Instinute (HFD) at 216-231-1489, Below are charts taken from the above mentioned standards for inch and. ‘metric coasse thread bolt and nut sizes covering 1/4 inch through 1 inch and Md through M24, These charts show the ‘minimum ultimate strength values for tue bolts and the proof load capacity val- ues for the nuts Joe Greenslade has been active in the fastener industry since 1970. He has held postions with major fastener producers in sales engincering, marketing, Product design, manufacturing management, and research and development Mr Grenstide holds tucive U.S. patents on various fastener related products. He has authored over 136 trade journal articles on fastener applications, manufacturing and quality issues. He i one of the fastener industry's moat {froquent speakers ai trade association meetings and conferences. He isthe youngest person ever induced to the Fastener Tutustry Hal of Fame ‘Mr Greenslade is active in nuomerons fastener industry associations tnd societies holding ofice in several of them, In addition to guiding the activities of Grenslade & Company, Mr: Greenslade works as cansulianit with fastener suppliers and end users on protuct design, applications enginering, and quality issues, In this capacity he works to salve fastener applications problems, to help select the Bes fastening approaches in new prc designs, 0 asst in the standardization of fastens sed within wn organization, and to provide raining on various aspets of fastening technology anu fastener quality assurance, He alo serves as Expert Witness in ligation swuotuing fastener related ‘American Fastener Journal Vy‘METRIC BOLT ULTIMATE TENSILE STRENGTH AY 150 PROPERTY CLASS (NEWTONS) M1008 a 3960 | 7.100 | 2520 | 11350 14900 MBXT.0. 8.440 10,000 16,100 20,900 | Mn 25 5400_| 18.300 75.200 38,100 [mioxrs [23,200 [24400 | 29.000 46,400 | 60,300 [ax 75 53,700 | 35400 | 42.200, 67400 37,700 miae.0 45000 | 48,300] 57500 52,000 720,000 | 2,800 | 65,900 | 78500 725,000 163,000 76.800 | 80,600 | 96,000 155,000 200,000 98,006 | 403,000 | 722,000 303 000 255,000 [Manas 723,000 _| 127,000 |” 152,000 252,000 35.00 [Meae.o 741,000 | 148,000 |” 176,000 293,000 NA 367,000 ‘METRIC NUT PROOF LOAD CAPACITY BY ISO PROPERTY CLASS (NEWTONS) mexo0g | 5400 [7A | NA | 0250} 95001 ZO, NAT 13,000) 14.800 | 16200 | Tea ‘maxi | 7,640 | 70.000 | wa] 11,700 [13.500 | 3200. na | s@400-[ 20500 | 22900 | 23.100 ‘@x1.25 | 13,900 48,300 NA 21,600 |" 24,900 | 31,800 NA 34,400 | 38,100 | 44,700 42,500 mmaox15 [72.000 | 29.000 | NA | 94200] 9.400 | 50500 | na | 54500 | 603300 | 66,100" | 67.300 ‘at2xs.75 | 32,000 | 42,200 | Na” | 51.400] 59.000 _| 74.200 | na | 60.100 | 88.500. | 98,600 | 100300 ‘wnaxa0 | ~43.700-| 5700 | nx | 70200 | 90,500 | 101200 | na | i0s,300-| 120,00 | 134,600 | 136,000 m6x20 | 59.700 | 78,500 NA 95,800 | 109,900 | 138,200 NAL 149,200 | 164,900 | 183.700 | 186,800 ‘mies | 73,000 | 96000 | 57,500 | 721,000 | 138200 | 176,600 | 470800 | 176.600 | 203,500 | NA ‘ma0x2.5| 93,100 | 422,000 [ 125,000 | 154.400. | 176.400 | 725.400 | 216,100 | 225.400 | 259.700 | NA 1m2¥25 | 115.100 | 151.500 | 154,500 | 190,900 | 218200 | 278,800 | 269,700 | 778,800 | 321,200 | NA waar. 0 [138,100 [176300 | ye0000 | 222400 | 254,200 | 324800 | 314200 | 324.a00 | 374200 | NA * (a) The vols in th har ar or Hex and Heavy Hex Nuts th Clas GH heads. Overtaped nts have pre oa cartes 75% of those shown above (2) The vais nthe chat ave dnt apply to Jar Nok or Sted Nuts. Therese ower due to stead engagement than tht of eka Weavy Hex Nuts INCH NUT PROOF LOAD CAPACITY (POUNDS FORCE) Heavy/Thick Hex Nuts roe 1v420 2.800 4750 aim | azz 5247 2565 5106-18 6.300 7.850 5240 6968 646 3.170 378-16 33300 71.600 7.750 70308 "2788 3508 76-14 72,800 15:00 “ose 14.098 17490 18.550 123 17,000 21,300 111200 1,896 23.0 24950 | ene 21,900 77.300 | 18.200 24.206 50030 | 31.880} 518-11 27,100 33,900 22,600, 30,058 37.290 39,550 374-10 y300 [asa 50,100 3400 44422 55,110 58.450 | [7089 [55.400 300 36.300 ere 75230 | 80.850 (8 5 [2700 90.900 | 60.600 | 40,598 350 06.050 =) The values hs hat ar forex and Heavy Hex ns th Cas 28 thes Overapped nus have poo lad apace 75% of hav shown above (2) The acto the tat above dant sppy tam Nols Sted huts, Thee vals award to ee hea! eagement tan tat Hex and evy Hex Nats continued om page 33PROPER MATCHING aid fram poge 31 — — INCH BOLT ULTIMATE TENSILE STRENGTH | BY GRADE (POUNDS FORCE) 4-20) [one-18 378-16 The14 When determining what nut grade to use with a given bolt: © Find the bolt’s ultimate tensile strength by thread size and * strength grade in the appropriate chart. © Locate the thread size line in the appropriate nut chart that maiches the bolt’s thread size and select the nut grade {0 use where the nut’s proof load capacity value is equal to ‘or greater than the bolt’ ultimate tensile strength, Fastener users should always make the final choice of which nut to use with which bolt, but if asked, suppliers should share these principles with them. Fastener users should be warned that using a lower grade nut to save on the initial purchase price of fasteners could prove to be false Ifthe nus threads strip during installation and the failure (gees undetected, the entire assembly may fal when it is put into use. When this type of catastrophic failure occurs the supplier usually has to defend himself against accusations about having supplied fasteners of poor quality. This is unfair and unjust when the root cause of the failure is poor nut selection by the user. I Greenslade & Company, Inc. 2204 Wena Ave. Fort Worth TX 70102 817-670-8808, 817-870-9199 Fax salosereensiadoandcompamy.com