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Solar Fasteners

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Reprint from Fastener World Magazine, Vol. 152

Thomas Edison is attributed with the following quote, “We are like tenant farmers chopping down the fence around our house for fuel when we should be using Nature’s inexhaustible sources of energy — sun, wind and tide…. I’d put my money on the sun and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until oil and coal run out before we tackle that.” Today, many would see his words as prophetic. As concerns have increased over the supply of consumable energy sources and their lasting impact on the earth, cleaner and renewable energy sources have become a topic of intense interest and anticipated source for future energy consumption.

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Pre-load: Part II – Tightening Strategies

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Reprint from Fastener World Magazine, Vol. 151

In Part 1 of this series we explored the fundamental concept of Pre-Load and what this means to the fastened joint. Although understanding this concept is a fundamental fastener engineering tenet, one likely cannot stop there and is led to ask the question of how one practically achieves this Pre- Load in the bolted joint. This is where the subject of “tightening strategies” arises. Before we look at the different tightening strategies, let’s briefly review the concepts of pre- load and torque-tension.

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Pre-load: A Primer

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Reprint from Fastener World Magazine, Vol. 150

In the world of fastener engineering, all too often the joint designer gets focused on the wrong things; torque, locking mechanisms, degrees of rotation, and a number of other sundry items, at the expense of focusing on the most important element, joint tension. Of course, this is understandable since torque and angle are the fundamental measures the industry uses in tightening critical joints. Additionally, torque and angle are easily measured and reasonably easily controlled. However, it is the tension that holds the joint together, which makes
it supremely important both at installation and over the service life of the joint. Therefore, it is critical that the joint designer generates sufficient tension so that the joint can perform safely immediately after tightening, but also years down the road after relaxation and other diminishing effects have acted on the joint.

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Reflections on Torque

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Reprint from Fastener World Magazine, Vol. 169

In the fastener world there is perhaps no more commonly used expression than “torque-tension”. So common is this term in fastener circles that it is thrown out in everyday conversation and accepted by all at face value. One can understand this, as finding the perfect “torque-tension” behavior is the Holy Grail of fastener engineering. Unfortunately, like many technical terms that have been elevated to everyday usage, the vast majority of those hearing it fail to understand the fundamental principles it is meant to describe. Take for example a recent blog posting I encountered. It was addressing the question of which is more important, torque or tension. Although it was a well-intentioned posting, even the most novice fastener engineer realizes that the bolted joint is wholly dependent on properly achieved tension. Like many of the technical terms that make up the modern lexicon (such as fusion, heat treating, Xeroxing, and hundreds of others), the term “torque-tension” is broadly used by purveyors and users of fasteners, but generally poorly understood. So let us investigate this topic and see if we can find some simple answers into what “torque-tension” is all about.

joint is wholly dependent on properly achieved tension. Like many of the technical terms that make up the modern lexicon (such as fusion, heat treating, Xeroxing, and hundreds of others), the term “torque-tension” is broadly used by purveyors and users of fasteners, but generally poorly understood. So let us investigate this topic and see if we can find some simple answers into what “torque-tension” is all about.

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So You Want to be an Automotive Fastener Supplier

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Reprint from Fastener World Magazine, Vol. 168

Although every model automobile is different, the average automobile contains several thousand fasteners. The total number is comprised of screws, bolts, nuts, washers, clips, and specialized, engineered specials and variants of all the following. The assortment and variety of different fasteners is impressive by any standard. One would think that because of this variety gaining entry into the automotive fastener market would be an easy accomplishment. This assumption, however, would be incorrect. In fact, the reality is very different; becoming a supplier to automotive customers is generally an onerous task and a monumental accomplishment.

To understand why it is so difficult one has to understand some of the differences between the automotive fastener market and all others. At the forefront is an understanding of fastener “standards”.

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The Importance of Consensus Standards – Protecting all Participants in the Fastener Supply Chain

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Reprint from Fastener World Magazine, Vol. 148

Imagine a world without standards or one characterized by many competing standards. It probably does not take too long for a picture to emerge in your mind. Think back, for example, to cell phones ten years ago. If your cell phone communicated using a standard that was not available within the local network, you did not get service. This frustrated many an international traveler who expected their phone to work in the country they were visiting only to find that their phone communicated with a different standard than the local one and therefore did not work. Or for those old enough to recall, take for example, the battle between VHS and Betamax video formats. Although today both video replication formats are pretty much retired, how frustrating it was then for the owner of a player of one format to be unable to play a cassette in the other format. These are not isolated examples. Every day we touch and depend on a wide variety of items and technologies to perform in uniform and predictable ways. When things and people fail to perform in the ways we have come to expect, a great deal of frustration, inconvenience, and chaos normally ensues.

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Passing the Torch: Preparing Your Business for the Next Generation

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From Fasteners Technology International, December 2014

Jim Rohn, the famous American entrepreneur, once said, “All good men and women must take responsibility to create legacies that will take the next generation to a level we could only imagine.”

Perhaps more than at any other time in recent history, this quote sets the stage for a topic that is exceptionally important to the survival of our industry. Who is going to take the reins and usher our companies into the future?

It is clear that the fastener industry has been portrayed alongside other manufacturing industries as unglamorous, dirty and not a career of choice for any of our children. In fact, a recent poll of teenagers found that almost 75% were either ambivalent or expressed little or no interest in manufacturing careers.

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Why a Formal Quality Management System Makes Good Business Sense

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From Link Magazine, Fall 2014

On a cold night in April 1912 one of the world’s most enigmatic disasters unfolded, the sinking of what The White Star Line dubbed as the “unsinkable” ship, the RMS Titanic. Like many such events, discrepancies in eyewitness accounts, the passage of time, and the lack of hard evidence, has led to multiple theories and ideas over the years about what really happened. Suffice it to say though, the most likely explanation is that no one thing was responsible but rather many “small” things came together in the “perfect storm”. This cavalcade of events conspired against the passengers and crew on that fateful night to sink the “unsinkable” ship and seal its place in history as one of the all-time worst maritime accidents.

Although a hundred years later, we’re still searching for answers and one of the recent and more plausible theories that has been proposed has to do with, of all things…

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Where Does Cold Heading Wire & Rod Come From? Part 3 – Wire Processing

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From Fasteners Technology International, October 2014

In recent years, there has been a strong resurgence of interest in the wine and spirits industry. One of the advantageous traits of many wines and other spirits is their ability, or in some cases necessity, to age in the bottle or a wooden barrel. This “aging” time transforms the wine or spirit from a drink that may be initially quite nondescript or even “nasty” to one that is of fine quality and enjoyed by the consuming practitioner.

In much the same way, hot rolled rod looks to all but the trained eye like a product ready to go into a cold header and be made into bolts. Like wine though, at this stage looks can be deceiving and a variety of unpleasant surprises may be in store for fastener manufacturers that would consider
using hot rolled rod straight from the mill.

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Characterization of Flow Drill Screwdriving Process Parameters on Joint Quality

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From SAE International, September 2014

Abstract: A state of the art proprietary method for aluminum-to-aluminum joining in the automotive industry is Resistance Spot Welding. However, with spot welding (1) structural performance of the joint may be degraded through heat-affected zones created by the high temperature thermal joining process, (2) achieving the double-sided access necessary for the spot welding electrodes may limit design flexibility, and (3) variability with welds leads to production inconsistencies. Self-piercing rivets have been used before; however they require different rivet/die combinations depending on the material being joined, which adds to process complexity. In recent years the introductions of screw products that combine the technologies of friction drilling and thread forming have entered the market. These types of screw products do not have these access limitations as through-part connections are formed by one-sided access using a thermo-mechanical flow screwdriving process with minimal heat. The friction drilling, thread forming process, hereto referred to as “FDS” is an automated continuous process that allows multi-material joining by utilizing a screw as both the tool and the fastener. The process uses the friction caused by the rotating screw to pierce and extrude the material. Threads are then created in this formed extrusion which allows the fastener to be screwdriven into the parts. A final torquing then securely clamps together the sheets of material. This study explores the quality design space as represented by resultant joint geometry as a function of the critical process parameters of fastener force and drilling speed. Feasible design space regions are explored to determine how process parameters affect joint geometry, and strength testing performed to validate the findings. (Article No.: SAE 2014-01-2241)

Available for Purchase on SAE International: http://papers.sae.org/2014-01-2241/