Bet you don’t think about fasteners very often, but they play a vital role in our everyday life. They hold your table together, and the chairs we sit on as well as the cars we drive and just about everything around us is held together with a fastener.
So technically, a fastener is a piece of hardware that mechanically joins two or more objects together, and they have so many uses. Fasteners can also be special purpose like the clips that hold your chips shut. They are often temporary and used when you need to fasten and unfastened things repeatedly.
Fasteners are the universal components used to create non-permanent joints. What do we mean by a non-permanent joint? Any joint that can be dismantled or removed without damaging the joining components can be a non-permanent joint. A welding joint is considered a permanent joint. If a permanent joint needs to be removed, it tends to damage both the joining components as well as the joint itself.
Fasteners are a screw with threads. The male part is the screw with an external thread, and the female part is a hole with an internal thread. The female part can also be a nut. Fasteners can be made out of alloy steel, stainless steel, Inconel stainless steel, titanium, aluminum and carbon steel which is the most common.
Certain fasteners have coatings on them to improve their performance. The main purpose of a coating is to help improve corrosion resistance on the fasteners. Coatings available are; phosphate plating, zinc plating, cadmium plating which is primarily used in aerospace applications, chromium, silver, black oxidizing, and nickel plating.
When we think of fastener’s we commonly think of the following:
- Nails – The easy way to put two pieces of wood together.
- Bolts – They use nuts and washers as an anchor, helping them to form a stronger bond.
- Screws – Screws have more holding power than nails and are easier to remove.
- Glues – Used to attach two items together chemically. Glue can be used on its own or to help aid with another kind of fastener.
- Clamps – Clamps hold things together for a short period to ensure the bond is complete.
Items like string, rope, wire, cable or plastic wrap can be used to join two objects together but aren’t considered fasteners because they allow movement and not the rigidity of a metal fastener. Other methods include welding, soldering, cementing and the use of adhesives.
The term fastener has many diverse meanings. When it comes to the right fastener for your project, Fastener’s Inc. has what you are looking for. As a leader in the industry with over 30,000 items in their inventory, you are sure to find exactly what you need.
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