What is Elco Flex Technology?

One of the most popular, and most trusted, engineered fastener brands in world is Elco Construction Fasteners. Now owned by DeWALT, Elco products are used in many different construction applications, from aluminum balcony railings to unitized curtain wall. Elco’s defining feature is their use of “Flex Technology”, offering engineers various options for ductility, strength and embrittlement resistance in fastened connections. But what is Flex Technology?

Standard fasteners are case hardened, creating vulnerabilities to delayed embrittlement failures, which are induced by hydrogen’s presence in applications involving dissimilar metal. In mixed substrates such as aluminum and steel, and with the involvement of moisture from weather conditions, galvanic reactions reduce detrimental hydrogen. The results is the destruction of a fastener’s grain boundaries, which can create sudden, and potentially very dangerous, fastener failures. In metallurgy, this reaction is known as Hydrogen Assisted Stress Corrosion Cracking (HASCC). It often occurs without typical visible clues like red rust.

Using special alloy materials that go through proprietary heat treatments and tempering processes, Elco Construction fasteners that utilize Flex Technology far surpass any other generic fastener available in terms of resistance to hydrogen embrittlement. These fasteners allow manufacturers and engineers of systems to consider their risk and upgrade the performance of critical connections. All Elco fasteners with Flex Technology also feature Stalgard corrosion-resistant coatings. These durable, multi-layer, environmentally friendly coatings contain no chromates and silicates.

Dril-Flex(R) Structural Self-Drilling Fasteners

Bi-Flex 300 Series Stainless Bi-Metal Fasteners

Elco’s most popular products employing Flex Technology are Alumi-Flex stainless steel drill screws, Bi-Flex self-drilling screws, ConFlex large diameter masonry screws, Dril-Flex precision engineered structural fasteners and Tap-Flex thread forming screws. Some typical applications for these products are in assemblies with dissimilar metals, building enclosures, blast protection systems and solar panel racking support systems.

For pricing or more information on Elco Flex Technology fasteners, contact China Special Fasteners at +86-755-27859830 or buy online at REQUEST A QUOTE.

Kyle Domer
Product Spotlight: GRK Fasteners FIN/Trim Finishing Trim Head Screws

Have you ever been in need of a very small headed screw for finishing applications? If so, you may have been frustrated to find that most products on the market don’t meet your needs. Now, with GRK’s FIN/Trim screws, you can get the smallest head on the market with lengths ranging for 1-1/4” to 5”.

The FIN/Trim screw from GRK Fasteners is ideal for fine carpentry requirements, including window extension jambs. The screw’s patented W-CutTM thread design and exceptionally small head mean that most material splitting can be prevented entirely. The proprietary ZIP-TIPTM makes it so no pre-drilling is required, creating faster penetration times.

GRK FIN/Trim screws are offered in a variety of materials and finishes, including 305 stainless steel, 316 stainless steel, ClimatekTM coating and even white powder coating for white wooden trim boards. The ClimatekTM coating is also AC257 code-approved for use in treated lumber, in both interior and exterior applications.

For more information or to get pricing on GRK Fasteners FIN/Trim screws, contact China Special Fasteners at +86-755-27859830.

Kyle Domer
Product Spotlight: Roost Systems Universal Support Block

With its new universal support block, Roost Systems has developed an innovative, eco-friendly solution for mounting solar panels, HVAC equipment, ducting, rooftop pipes and more. Using 100% recycled rubber from scrap tires, the universal support block offers maximum versatility for commercial and residential applications.

Roost Systems universal support block features a simple pyramid design to increase load capacity while also creating a stable platform for attachment. The rubber base provides superior load distribution and low abrasion interface with membrane roofs.

Because it’s made entirely of recycled rubber, use of the universal support block may qualify for LEED credits. Additionally, it’s extremely durable, able to outlast the roof its mounted to while also being UV resistant. Fast and easy to install, Roost’s universal support block is entirely maintenance free.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Roost Systems universal support block, contact China Special Fasteners at +86-755-27859830 .

Kyle Domer
Webinar Series Explores ASTM Standards for Fasteners

ASTM International (formerly the American Society for Testing and Materials) is a standards organization that develops and publishes voluntary technical standards for a wide range of materials and products internationally. ASTM standards are commonly referenced in the fastener industry, but not often well understood.

ASTM standards for bolts and nuts often relate to a fastener’s dimensions, materials, mechanical properties or metallurgical makeup. Some of the most referenced ASTM standards for fasteners are:

  • ASTM A36

  • ASTM A47

  • ASTM A48

  • ASTM A153

  • ASTM A193

  • ASTM A194

  • ASTM A307

  • ASTM A320

  • ASTM A325

  • ASTM A354

  • ASTM A449

In an attempt to help our customers better understand ASTM standards that relate to fasteners, China Special Fasteners has teamed up with the AIM Fastener Standards Review Channel to promote a series of webinars conducted by professionals with a deep knowledge and understanding of ASTM fastener standards. Additionally, printable PDF documents for some of the most common fastener-related standards can be downloaded from our ASTM standards page.

All ASTM fastener standard webinars can be viewed at the AIM Fastener Standards Review Channel, and sample transcript from the ASTM F1941/F1941M webinar is shown below. If you have any questions about ASTM standards for fasteners, contact China Special Fasteners at +86-755-27859830.


Full ASTM F1941/F1941M Webinar Transcript:

Good afternoon, everybody, and welcome to Episode Number 31 of the Aim Fasteners Standards Review Channel, coming to you from AIM Testing Laboratory in beautiful El Cajon, California. Last episode, we began our exploration of fasteners plating and coating standards with ASTM 1941. We didn’t get very far through it, but today we’re going to be looking at the money page.

Well, I’m not going to review what we did last time, even though I do see a few participants that weren’t here last time, but I’ll just tell you so you know that F1941, F1941M is the go-to standard for electrode zinc, electro cadmium, and a few other coatings, such as zinc nickel, that we’ll get into a little bit later. It’s the standard that you should be designating in all of your United States made product, and anything that you have imported into the United States that gets electroplated. It’s been well worked out through the last several years since it was first published, it was written by Salim Brahimi, he’s one of our go-to expertise, he’s the director of the Industrial Fasteners Institute, engineering section. And he has been the chairman, or is chairman of just about every fastener committee that you can think of. So, it’s a well put together standards, been rung out well, work’s good, and I encourage you to use it.

So, last time we got up to the point, as you can see, I’ve highlighted the word “torque- tension control” here, and I made the comment that this standard does not give us any designation for torque-tension control. And if you’ve been in my other webinars, you would know that torque-tension control on a fastener is designated by a variable called the K-factor.

K-factor is how we describe not just the friction of the coating, but some other things, but mainly it’s the friction of the coating. And coatings have designated K-factor; some do and some don’t. It would be very nice if we could, in this standard, say something like, if you’ve got zinc, we want a K-factor of such and such. And zinc is generally about 0.22. Nowadays, with the higher end top coatings, or I should say more engineered top coatings beyond hexavalent or trivalent chromate. We see that going down, not intentionally, it just is going down to around the 0.2 range, and then that’s just what I see, I’m not saying that’s—you can read that anywhere, it’s just what I see when we do testing.

But the upside is, it is much more tight, the scatter is better, it’s more controllable. Whereas before, when we just had hexavalent or even trivalent chrome, the K-factor for zinc was all over the place, especially after repeated tightening’s. So, we are seeing some improvement with the coatings, the proprietary coatings, especially top coatings, that the platers are using, and so it would be nice if we could go ahead and take that one step further and improve the standard to the point that it actually could provide a designated K-factor. That’s a complicated subject though, and if you were to go to the Fastener Training Institute, and look at my last webinar on K-factor, it was a webinar completely on K-factor, you could learn some more about that.

So, that’s kind of where we stopped, and we got right into classification, and I’m going to skip significant surfaces, because we did talk an awful lot about that, but go right into classification. And we said that there are three things that make up the classification, the coating material, but is it zinc or cadmium, and how thick is it? Measured in very small increments, such as 10,000 of an inch or microns. And then what is the conversion coating scheme or strategy or combination? Because there’s usually more than one thing, not always, but there’s usually more than one thing that goes into this conversion coating, or top coating.

So, here’s where we are, we’re right into new territory right now, and this is the money page. When I say a money page, I basically mean if you’re going to use this standard, and use it effectively to either make money or prevent the loss of money, or profit, or control risk, this is where the information is that you need to do that, for the most part. There are some other ones, controlling features of this standard, but the main thing we need to do is properly designate the coating, and that designation would be on your purchase order when you send it out to the plating shop that’s going to do the work, or it’s going to be in a standard maybe, or it’s going to be on a drawing.

So, those are the places where we see these designations, and hopefully that designation would carry through exactly as it was written by whoever made the designation. So, let’s go ahead and take a look at what we start with, we start with the designation of the coating materials. Now, they all start with FE, because if we notice in our title, or in our scope, this coating is for use on iron-based and steel type products. I’m not saying you can’t coat something else to this standard, but it’s basically for iron-based alloys that we would be coating it onto.

So, FE stands for iron, so iron with something on top of it. It’s either going to be zinc—and these, by the way, all come off of the periodic table, these designations, zinc, cadmium, and so on. And as a fastener person, to understand both of these types of designations and things like chemistry reports, chemistry requirements and standards, chemistry requirements and mill test reports, we should know most of the important ones. So, if you don’t know or need some help understanding the periodic table, let me know, and we’ll do a quick session on that sometime. It’ll be a special session; it won’t take up our normal fastener standards review time.

So, zinc, cadmium, zinc cobalt, zinc nickel, and zinc iron are the three types of coatings that we see designated here. I’m very familiar with the first three or four, not so much zinc cobalt. I know there’s a specific purpose for it, and I have not seen zinc iron as a common coating, I don’t know what its purpose in life is. If somebody does know, you fill me in on that, meanwhile, maybe I’ll do some research and try to find out. But 90% of everything, that’s 90% of all percentage, each numbers are made up out of thin air, and I just made that one up. I don’t know, some large percentage of the coatings that come out of this standard are going to be zinc.

I don’t know if cadmium would be next, or zinc nickel would be next. Zinc nickel is becoming a very popular coating, it solves a lot of problems. Some of those problems have to do with hydrogen embrittlement susceptibility, control of torque-tension, the K-factor is very good, the appearance is very good, it’s very controlled. So, zinc nickel is on the horizon, or has been on the horizon for some time as a potential replacement for cadmium in the aerospace and military industry applications. So, it’s expensive compared to zinc, and not everyone can do it, but we’ve seen some stunningly nice appearance. It’s not as shiny as zinc in its native form, but it takes a really nice black.

So, black zinc nickel is a very nice-looking coating, and when someone is trying to get away from cadmium, or they don’t, for whatever reason, like zinc, they can go to zinc nickel. It’s got better…We’ll look at some other things that’s got better besides its salt spray or corrosion-resistance factor, but it’s torque-tension factor as well. And maybe we will take a look at some of these other coatings.

So, that’s the first thing we want to know, what is the coating? So zinc, cadmium, zinc cobalt, zinc nickel, zinc iron. By the way, going back to zinc nickels and zinc cobalt, they’re still mostly zinc, they have a small percentage of either cobalt, nickel, or iron, and that’s somewhere between a few to 10%, 12%, I’ve heard. This standard does not designate the percentage that should be in it, and so that’s a little bit of a confusing thing. It’s up to the formulator of the plating process to put the right amount in to create the performance requirements that those coatings indicate. I’ve heard that most zinc nickel coatings have a lot less nickel in them than they theoretically are supposed to have. I don’t know if that’s true or not, maybe we could talk to a plating person about that.

Okay, so the second thing, that’s Table 1, Table 2 is the thickness of the coating. This is F1941, F1941M designated standards. So, we have the M designation, therefore we get inch in metric call-outs here, and so we can see what the designation in inches, in 10 thousandths of an inch, the way we say that is tenths, one tenth, two tenths, three tenths, or five tenths, or microns, or micrometers, 3, 5, 8, and 12. And these are pretty damn close, they’re close enough that you don’t really need to be messing with any decimal places beyond that. By the way, you’ll notice that they give us even a conversion factor up here that’s very friendly. And this number here, that’s 2.54, that should ring a bell with you. How many millimeters are in an inch? 25.4. So now we’re going from microns to 10 thousandths of an inch, so it’s 2.54.

What else to say about that? Okay, for the most part, fasteners are going to have a designation of FE/ZN3, and we’re not done yet, but just go to 3, that’s one 10 thousandths, or three microns. Sometimes there will be a 5, that 5—now, keep in mind, this is a minimum thickness—at 5, we have still enough room in the inch world on a class 2A thread to fit two tenths in almost every application, if we don’t go over that. If we go much over that, we get into 3, we could end up with thread fit interference.

The same with the 6G tolerance in the metric world. So, 3 and 5, and you can be relatively safe, 5, which can be a little bit risky, because keep in mind, it’s a minimum, and if they go much over that, we could bust that. 8 and 12, and you’re going to have thread interference. These are heavy coatings, probably not necessarily appropriate for threaded fasteners, maybe more for pins. Now, you might be able to get away with these on nuts, because when the plating throws into the application with nuts, the internal features of the threads do not get as much thickness as the outside.

So, we’ll see that this thickness designation has a major impact on the corrosion resistance of the coating, and we’ll see that played out in the salt spray requirements that we’ll come up against a little bit later. So, for the most part FE/ZN 3 is what you’re going to see on threaded fasteners, maybe 5. By the way, I will tell you, you must pay close attention to this. I’ve had a couple of cases over the years, not one lately, where for years the supplier had been just sending the part out to zinc coat F, and they just say F1941, they don’t say a designation. The plater has been giving them 3, low and behold, the drawing had 5 on it all the time. So, what does as an end-user do to a supplier when that supplier for years and years and years has been supplying them with a coating that did not meet the print? That’s a pretty gnarly problem to have to come up against. So, be very careful with the coating thickness designation.

There’s a reason someone might choose a 5. Now, if you were to, for example, misdesignate or fail to designate, and give your customer one 10 thousandths, when they asked for two 10 thousandths minimum, which, by the way, it doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s a huge difference in terms of proportion, it’s double the thickness. So, it’s not just a little bit different, it’s a lot different, it’s like the difference between 10 and 20, or 100 and 200, or 1 and 2. It’s a big difference, its double. So, if you fail to give them their FE/ZN 5, and maybe they don’t discover it for years later, when there’s something down the line where there’s a corrosion issue or something like that, that could have some pretty serious liability impact, so pay real close attention to that.

And then we get to the designation of the conversion coating, and this is where it gets a little bit complicated, and there’ve been some recent changes that we have to pay attention to. So, we have a type, and a designator type. So, the type is either going to be clear blue, bright, and by the way, blue doesn’t mean blue like blue on the American flag, it’s very light blue, and you can barely see it if you hold one fastener in your hand. But if you have a handful of them, or you’re looking at them in a box full, you can see there’s a blue tinge there.

Yellow is what we’re used to seeing as yellow zinc, that’s the sort of gold, makes it look like brass or gold. This thing they call opaque is actually a weird and dark shade—its olive green, brown, bronze-looking, I’ve even seen it have some reddish orange tones to it. And then finally black, and black will have slight iridescence. So, what makes the difference between clear blue, bright yellow, opaque and black? Well, back in the days when we designated hexavalent chrome, which we all know nowadays, we’re trying to get away from hexavalent chrome, because the Europeans don’t like it—well, nobody really likes it, it doesn’t taste good, and you don’t want to eat too much of it.

But I will tell you, if you want to fend off lots of viruses, just suck on a couple of 1/4 -20 hex nuts that are zinc plated, and that zinc in that hexavalent chrome will kill viruses, trust me on that. So, the hexavalent chrome, ABCDE designation, is made by a heavier coating of hexavalent chrome. And you just leave it in this formula or put enough on, depending on the time in the tank, and what the concentration of the tank is, to create the colors. So, yellow, opaque and black, all pretty much use the same thing when it comes to hexavalent chrome, there’s just a lot more of it on there. It’s not necessarily a dye, it’s just the color of the hexavalent chrome.

Now, as you know, once we were tired of hexavalent chrome, and we wanted to get rid of it because of the Erin Brockovich movie and all that, they came up with use of a product called trivalent chromium, which was not as toxic and didn’t work nearly as well, but a matter of fact, it was a disaster in some respects, when it first came out, because one of the features of hexavalent chrome that make it such a great top coat, is its self-healing. And by the way, so is zinc itself, zinc coatings are self-healing, whether it’s electro zinc, or hot dip galvanized, and the reason that self-healing, is because if you scratch, the corrosion product that it generates in that scratch actually covers over the scratch and continues to provide protection.

So, the hexavalent chromium does that for the zinc coating, and the zinc coating does that for the substrate underneath. If you ever notice, for example, a coating that is not self-healing, such as nickel, if you scratch nickel, it’s going to rust under that scratch right away. So, this combination of zinc with hexavalent chromium, and even cadmium with hexavalent chromium, by the way, if you didn’t know, in previous generation, and I would say 60s, maybe 50s, for sure, 60s, maybe somewhat into the 70s, I’m not sure, all fasteners were cadmium plated, that was the best coating. It wasn’t just aerospace; it was just the common coating for fasteners. Because it works so good, cadmium has a very good coating, it’s superior in corrosion resistance, it’s superior in its torque-tension control. But as we know, it’s an environmental issue, so that’s why we’re getting away from cadmium, similarly to why we’re getting away from hexavalent chromium.

So, the trivalent chromium that came out, as I was saying, does not work as good, because it was not self-healing, and it would not pass a lot of salt spray testing that might be done subsequent. And we’ll talk more about salt spray testing, and when it’s supposed to be done, when we get to that, probably not this episode. So, the previous version of F1941, this designation would be trivalent chromium with hexavalent, or trivalent. And instead of an A, it would AT. So, if you ever see an AT designation, that’s from an older standard. And so when we decided, hey, there’s other things that work better than trivalent chromium, why can’t we use those for top coat, as designated by the developers of the coating formulas? Good idea. So, instead of having a designation that is trivalent, we simply say N, which means not hexavalent. So, non-hexavalent top coat—it could be trivalent, but it could be any of some of the other things. If you read any coating magazines, or any of the fasteners magazines, you’ll notice lots of people advertise these various non-hexavalent chromium topcoats.

So, that’s our designation in a nutshell, but there’s more to table three that we’ll see in a minute, besides just this, what’s called conversion coating. After the conversion coating…And by the way, notice it says, “The non-chromium passivation finish shall be used at the option of the manufacturer, and its appearance shall be selected in accordance with a designation.” So, even if we designate hexavalent chrome, we can use the non-hexavalent chrome finish, provided we meet the performance requirements. And we’ll notice that this non-hexavalent chrome does not have the same performance as the hexavalent chromium, and when we look at this later on.

So now we have a few other things that go into what goes on top of the zinc, and the next thing is called supplemental lubricants sealants or topcoats. And these are an additional or different than just the designated conversion coating. And we have ways to designate those, so I’m going to skip right down to this little chart at the bottom, because it does a nice job of explaining to you how you build your designation for the coating. We have the base metal, and then what we’re going to coat it with, we have the conversion coating, that’s as far as we’ve gotten so far.

So now on top of that, we can add an additional lubricant, and/or a sealant top coat. So, the additional lubricant is usually added to give us better torque-tension control. The additional sealing or top coat is added to give us better salt spray performance. And then we can add both of those, sealant top coat, additional lubricant, to give us better torque-tension and better corrosion resistant, or salt spray performance. And in fact, there are coatings that combined both of these features in one, a better lubrication, and a better sealing or top coat.

So, that’s what sort of the state of the art is in coatings for fasteners, and there are lots of different formulations out there. You may or may not know what your plater is using. It would be a good idea if you have something that they’re using that seems to work, or your customer’s happy with, find out what that is, ask the plater, “Hey, what are you putting on my parts?” And then see if you can get them to help you designate that on your drawing.

Now, some platers feel it’s proprietary, how they managed to meet the requirements of a standard, and they don’t want to share that with you or that with the whole world, if they discovered the secret formula, so don’t be surprised if you get a little pushback on that. But most platers will be happy to say, “Okay, you’re going to send your stuff to us, here’s what I need you to put on your purchase order or your drawing, and here’s what you need to tell your customer, your end-user, how to designate it properly on their drawing.”

So, when we get into adding these additional lubricants, we have a couple or more letters. So, now we’re going to add the letter S, if we have a supplemental sealant or top coat, and the letter L, if we’re going to have a supplemental lubricant. So, now our designation becomes FE/ZN 5 for thickness, A for hexavalent chromium free, AN, non-hexavalent chrome, A if it was hexavalent chromium, so AN is the non-hexavalent chrome, with the supplemental lubricant, and a supplemental sealant or top coat.

So, this note here tells us that when we use the sealing to top coat, a separate conversion coating layer and/or lubricant layer may not be required to achieve this. This sort of acknowledges that, hey, there’s some people out there who have developed some stuff that one shot, and you get everything that you need without having to add a separate top coats supplemental lubricant, and supplemental sealant or top coat of some sort.

So, understanding this chart here, and these two tables, you got to figure it out, and so, when you send out your PO, FE/ZN, the most common designation you’re going to see, for example, for a clear zinc is going to be something like FE/ZN 5A. Now, the A would be for hexavalent chrome with clear coating. That’s as simple as it gets, that’s the simplest version. I have seen some suppliers, or some end users ask for certain types of hardware with no top coat on it at all, because zinc bear by itself, even though it will corrode pretty quickly, it’s an excellent primer, and it takes paint really well. So, if you get that stuff out of the zinc tank and right into a paints tank right away, the plain zinc might take the paint better than whatever you might put on top of it. So, occasionally, we’ll see something without that, and usually it’s going to be a thicker coating, like an 8 or a 12.

So, I said this was common, it’s actually not that common, but it is simple. The most common designation that you would see is FE/ZN 3AN, that’s clear zinc on fasteners at the minimum coating thickness. The second most common might be FE 3CN, for yellow zinc, or BN. Now, BN is oftentimes done automatically when AN is designated, because you can’t really tell the difference between the two. So, BN and AN, you’re probably going to see one or the other, regardless of which one is asked for. If BN is asked for, you’ve got to get BN, but if you get an AN, if you ask for an AN, and it shows up with a little bit of blue in it, don’t be surprised, because rarely does anybody care if their coating is going to have a little bit of blue in it when it comes to zinc or not.

So, further on, so there’s some samples and some designations. If you don’t have this standard and you’d like me to send you this page, which is really what you need more than anything, I’ll be happy to make a cut of this page and send it to you, just ask me.

Ordering information, we’ve talked about everything that we’ve done so far. Later on, I am going to show you some information about how to measure plating, thickness, okay? I sort of thought about that and I think it’s worth knowing, how plating thickness is measured, both by the plater in most cases, and also by a laboratory like AIM Testing Lab, and I’ll show you some good examples of that, that will help you understand why the coating thickness is so important. And also we’ll do some calculations to see and learn how coating thickness affects the threads of a plated fastener.

So next time, we will be getting a little bit into hydrogen embrittlement, we’ll be getting into what’s coming up next, the corrosion resistance, the salt spray, requirements hydrogen embrittlement relief, that means baking. And if you look over here to the right, my little tick mark is barely into the standard, but we’ll talk about baking, we’ll talk about salt spray performance, and we’ll talk about how to measure coating thickness. A lot of the stuff that’s at the end of this, the appendices, we’re not going to spend a lot of time on that, because it really isn’t that relevant, but we at least covered enough so you know what it is. But you can see the appendices take up quite a bit of the standard itself.

All right, well, thank you, well, I still don’t see any questions. Thank you all for attending the AIM Fastener Standards Review Channel, and we’ll hope to see you next Thursday at this time.

Kyle Domer
Product Spotlight: Stainless Steel Titen HD(R) Heavy-Duty Screw Anchor

Simpson Strong-Tie has released the next era of stainless steel screw anchor for masonry and concrete; the Titen HD(R) Stainless Steel Heavy-Duty Screw Anchor. These anchors have become a trusted solution, since they meet a specifier’s performance needs and also create an ease of installation that contractors demand. Now, with a stainless steel version available, Titen HD(R) Heavy-Duty Screw Anchors can be used in highly corrosive environments and other permanent outdoor applications.

 
 

The Titen HD(R) Stainless Steel Heavy-Duty Screw Anchor’s cutting ability comes from a proprietary bi-metal design, incorporating a carbon-steel helical-coil thread brazed into the anchor’s shank. The leading thread is serrated carbon-steel, which enables it to cut a channel for the stainless-steel threads’ engagement. The Titen HD(R) features less carbon steel, less expansion, and can be installed with an impact wrench or hand tool.

For more information about the Titen HD(R) Stainless Steel Heavy-Duty Screw Anchor and other structural screw anchors for construction, contact China Special Fasteners at +86-755-27859830.

Kyle Domer
Product Spotlight: Titen TurboTM Concrete and Masonry Screw Anchor

Simpson Strong-Tie has released the new Titen TurboTM Concrete and Masonry Screw Anchor, a patent-pending screw anchor that provides smooth driving with less torque and superior holding power. The Titen TurboTM Screw Anchor’s thread design features a proprietary torque-reduction channel between threads. The result is that drilling dust now has a place to go, creating a reduction in torque-related issues like snapping, binding and stripping.

 
 

The serrated screw point of the Titen TurboTM allows for easier starts when fastening wood, and there is a pending evaluation report for installation of these screw anchors without first removing the dust from a predrilled hole.

If you would like more information on the Titen TurboTM Concrete and Masonry Screw Anchor or any other screw anchors for construction, contact China Special Fasteners at +86-755-27859830.

Kyle Domer
Fasteners for Architectural Railings

China Special Fasteners has always excelled at providing customized support for niche industries, and even niches within niche industries. One such example is in architectural railings, where fasteners are used in bulk but are often overlooked as a primary component in the design, engineering, and installation of this specialty construction trade.

Several factors come into play when choosing fasteners for structural railings, architectural railings, or glass balustrades. These factors include, but are not limited to, the surface that the railings are being attached to, the material that the railings are made of, and whether the railings consist of complete welded systems or “stick-build” components that are mechanically fastened together.

The following illustrations provide detail into just how many fasteners can be used on a single commercial construction project’s aluminum railing installation.

Expansion Anchors

When mounting railings into a concrete slab, either on high rise towers or on the first two levels of podium buildings, expansion anchors from brands like Powers or Hilti are often used.

Lag Bolts

When attaching railing to wood framing of a building, stainless steel lag screws are commonly used.

Elco Dril-Flex

Sometimes it’s necessary to attach architectural railings directly to a metal substrate, whether that’s a steel plate or an aluminum deck. In these instances, Dril-Flex screws from Elco are commonly used.

Hex Bolts

Once in a while, structural engineers will require railings to be attached by going though a truss or beam, resulting in the use of what’s colloquially known as “through bolts”. In the fastener industry, this type of assembly typically refers to a stainless steel hex bolt paired with a stainless steel hex nut.

Elco Bi-Flex

Lastly, whether using welded systems or component-based railing products, sections must be attached to one another to complete the system, and Elco Bi-Flex bi-metal screws are often recommended at these “splice” locations.

No matter what type of railing system you’re designing or installing, China Special Fasteners can help you get the result you’re looking for. Contact us at +86-755-27859830 for assistance with these and any other fasteners for architectural railings.

Click to enlarge

*China Special Fasteners is not an engineering company and does not offer engineering advice. All illustrations shown are strictly for the purpose of education. Please consult a licensed structural engineer in your state before proceeding with any of the mentioned attachment methods.

Kyle Domer
How to Plan Your Fastener Purchases to Avoid Supply Chain Disruptions

While the congestion at ports in Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA starts to ease, many are wondering if their supply chain worries are over. Unfortunately, the supply chain disruptions we’ve seen affect almost every industry imaginable have been a result of causes beyond port congestion, like COVID-related production decreases and increased overall demand. While some factors are out of any individual buyer’s control, there are a few factors a fastener buyer can control in order to avoid supply chain disruptions.

The first step to avoiding supply chain disruptions is to clearly plan out your needs ahead of time. Planning to rely on “just-in-time” inventory may not cut it with current market conditions. When it comes to fasteners, it would be wise to plan your purchases at least six months at a time, especially if you’re running an assembly line where fasteners are being used in products on a daily basis. Because fasteners usually consume a very small portion of a project’s or product’s overall budget, this is one area where you can stock up ahead of time without much impact to cash flow. If your production line runs out of an essential fastener and you have to pay a 50% premium to get it back in stock quickly, that cost more than outweighs the cost of overbuying fasteners by 10%.

The next step in avoiding supply chain disruptions with fasteners is to choose a reputable, reliable supplier. China Special Fasteners has been in business for almost 50 years, and sells over 65,000 products. China Special Fasteners also has longstanding relationships with all of the top manufacturers, meaning our orders are sizable and usually prioritized by our vendors. Additionally, we can help you plan your annual fastener purchases ahead of time, resulting in a consistent supply of your parts, and at the best cost and delivery schedule possible.

Lastly, China Special Fasteners has always been a proponent of limiting the design and engineering of fasteners in any given product or project, focusing on readily available, standard fasteners, instead of costly and harder to come by custom designs. Last year, Fastener Engineering Magazine interviewed our own Antonia Tacusalme about this concept; “The idea of designing with limited, standard parts is absolutely brilliant because of the significant time and cost-savings it, ultimately, provides,” she said. Custom fasteners often cost up to double the price of standard ones, but the lead times are even more atrocious, ranging from two to twenty weeks, or even longer at time. Standard fasteners can be attained quickly, often over night if necessary.

If you’re having supply chain troubles when sourcing fasteners, contact China Special Fasteners at +86-755-27859830 for assistance.

Kyle Domer
Where Fastener Prices are Headed in 2022

As most industries saw significant cost increases throughout 2021, many of our customers are wondering what the cost landscape looks like for 2022, especially as it relates to fasteners. Although fasteners typically make up a small portion of a product’s or project’s overall cost, fasteners are not immune to price fluctuation, and it’s wise of fastener buyers to keep this in mind.

The cost of fasteners is 2022 is going to be driven by several factors; the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and how its affects will impact production levels, the cost of raw materials, the cost of shipping and delivery, and the overall demand for fasteners both domestically and around the world.

Globally, the cost of raw materials will remain high in 2022 as demand continues to climb. At the beginning of the pandemic, plants slowed down or halted completely; fearing a worldwide recession. Thankfully, that fear was unfounded and demand did not disappear, instead it shifted from sectors like air travel, to consumer goods and vehicles. While the commodities industries work to replenish their supply, demand will continue to drive cost. 

Production is expected to rebound in the early half of 2022, but we know that COVID disruptions can stall production and capacity without warning. Another factor that could affect input is the curbing of industrial production in China due to the 2022 Winter Olympics. China is where a large share of the world’s fasteners are manufactured, and they often forcefully slow down production to improve air quality prior to and during major events. 

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the price of shipping containers has spiked by as much as three or four times the pre-COVID price. As the global demand continues to outpace available capacity, the price of overseas shipping will continue to affect fastener prices. Typically, containers have a peak season for goods, usually from July to October, but this year volumes increased and then remained elevated, causing available capacity to be maxed out, according to Judah Levine, research lead at Freightos. Rates were already rising for overseas shipping when a COVID outbreak at the port of Yantian, one of China’s busiest container ports, added even lengthier delays. Efforts to restock empty warehouses are likely to keep demand elevated beyond the peak season.

Road, bridge, pipe, electric wire and rail projects will require an enormous amount of steel, aluminum and copper. The US federal government has slated approximately $550 billion towards these projects, creating even more demand for metals. Other building materials, such as cement and lumber, could also be used for construction projects under the bill. Fasteners will be used in almost all of these projects, and adding in the rebound in manufacturing, fastener demand will remain quite high throughout the new year.

While we can’t tell exactly how much fastener prices may rise, we’re fairly sure they won’t be decreasing any time soon. If you’re planning your fastener purchases for 2022 now, contact China Special Fasteners at +86-755-27859830 now to learn how you can get ahead of any additional price increases and stay profitable in the new year.

Kyle Domer
Which Fasteners Have Miami-Dade Approvals?

Much like the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety’s LARRs, Miami-Dade County approves construction products, including fasteners, for use on buildings in both Miami-Dade County and throughout the country. Whereas approvals in Los Angeles are mainly judged on their ability to withstand seismic loads (think earthquakes), Miami-Dade approvals are judged on their ability to withstand hurricane-like conditions.

The list of fasteners with Miami-Dade approvals is smaller than the list with LARRs or ICC-ES reports, but important nonetheless. If your project requires products to have Miami-Dade-approved fasteners, the following list will be of great assistance.

  • Hilti’s Kwik-Con II+ and Kwik Con+ Concrete and Masonry Screw Anchors

  • Elco’s 1/4" Crete-Flex SS4 Concrete and Masonry Anchors, Aggre-Gator 300 Series Stainless Steel Concrete and Masonry Anchor and Ultracon SS4 410 Series Stainless Steel Concrete & Masonry Screw Anchors

  • DeWALT’s Ultracon and Ultracon+ Concrete and Masonry Screw Anchors

  • ITW Buildex’s Tapcon Masonry Fasteners, Tapcon Concrete and Masonry Anchors with Advanced Threadform Technology and Tapcon Storm Guard Concrete Anchors

  • Brighton Best’s Tapking SD Concrete and Masonry Screw and US Anchor Ultrawedge+ Anchor

If you require Miami-Dade approved fasteners for your project, contact China Special Fasteners at +86-755-27859830 for assistance.

Kyle Domer
Which Fasteners Have ICC-ES Reports?

ICC-ES is an abbreviation for International Code Council-Evaluation Service. ICC-ES and ICC incorporate proven techniques and practices into codes and related products and services that foster safe and sustainable design and construction.

Often, federal, state or local building codes will require products with an ICC ESR, or an evaluation report (approval) from the ICC. In fact, the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety recently started accepting ICC-ES reports for seismic requirements as an alternative to LARRs.

While there are plenty of branded fasteners with ICC-ES reports, not all of them have completed the steps necessary to get this approval, so we’ve compiled an easy list to consult when you’re looking for fasteners with ICC approvals.

The fastener brand with the most ICC-ES reports is Hilti, with products including:

  • Hilti Low-Velocity Power-Actuated Fasteners

  • Bare Steel Deck and Concrete-filled Steel Deck Diaphragms Attached with Hilti X-HSN 24 or X-ENP-19 L15 Powder-driven Frame Fasteners

  • Hilti Low-Velocity X-U and X-U 15 Universal Fasteners and X-P Concrete Fasteners

  • Steel deck diaphragms attached with Hilti X-HSN 24 or X-ENP-19 l15 powder-driven frame fasteners and Hilti S-SLC 01 M hex washer head or S-SLC 02 M hex washer head sidelap connectors, or Verco decking VSC2 sidelap connection

  • Hilti X-GPN 37 MX, X-PN 37 G2 MX and X-PN 37 G3 MX power-actuated fasteners used to attach wood structural panels to cold-formed steel framing

  • Steel deck diaphragms attached with Hilti S-MD 12-24 x 15/8 M or S-RT5+ M9 frame fasteners and Hilti S-SLC 01 M HWH, S-SLC 02 M HWH, or S-MD 10-16 x 3/4 M HWH3, S-MD 10-16 x 3/4 HWH3 M9, S-MD 12-24 x 7/8 M HWH4, AND S-MD 12-24 x 7/8 HWH4 M9 screw sidelap connectors, Verco VSC2 sidelap connections, or button punch sidelap connections

  • Hilti S-BT Screw-In Fasteners

MKT Fastening, a more affordable alternative to many Hilti products, also boasts of several ICC-ES reports, including for Heavy Duty Mechanical Anchors and Medium Duty Mechanical Anchors, all of which are made in the USA.

GRK Fasteners also offers a selection of products with ICC-ES reports, including the RSS Rugged Structural Screw, a popular lag bolt alternative.

ITW Buildex and ITW Ramset have a solid selection of ICC approved products:

  • ITW Buildex Teks(R) Self-drilling Fasteners

  • Power-Actuated Fasteners and Ceiling Clip Assemblies

  • Ramset T3/T4 Power Driven Fastener

  • GYP-FASTTM Fasteners Used to Attach Gypsum Sheathing to Metal Studs

  • TrakFast Fasteners

  • Exterior/Perimeter Sill and Interior Plate Fasteners

DeWALT’s Power-Driven Fasteners, Ceiling Clip Assemblies and Sill Plate Anchorage, Trak-It(R) C4 and Trak-It(R) C5 Fasteners in Concrete, Masonry and Steel and CCN Fasteners in Concrete, Masonry and Steel all have ICC-ES reports.

Elco’s Drilit(R) Self-Drilling Structural Screws and Architectural Roof Clip Fasteners have ICC-ES reports.

Simpson Strong-Tie offers gas- and powder-actuated fasteners, assemblies and threaded rods that have been approved by the ICC as well.

If you need help finding fasteners with ICC-ES reports for your projects, contact China Special Fasteners at +86-755-27859830 for assistance.

Kyle Domer
Which Fasteners Have LARR (Los Angeles Research Reports) Approvals?

If you’re building a construction project in the city of Los Angeles, you’re going to need to work with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety (LADBS). All fasteners used in construction projects in Los Angeles must meet city code, and at times that requires a Los Angeles Research Report (LARR).

An LARR is an approval for material used in Los Angeles construction projects that are at least equivalent to what is specified in the code, in terms of quality, strength, fire resistance, effectiveness, safety and durability. Here, we’ll explore which fasteners have a pre-existing LARR, making them easier to get approved for use in Los Angeles city construction projects.

Powers Fasteners has a plethora of products with LARR approvals available:

  • Powers Snake+ Anchors for Cracked and Uncracked Concrete

  • Powers Wedge Bolt+ Screw Anchors in Cracked and Uncracked Concrete

  • Powers PE1000+ Epoxy Adhesive Anchor System in Cracked and Uncracked Concrete

  • Powers Wood-Knocker Concrete Inserts and Bang-It Concrete Inserts for Steel Deck in Cracked and Uncracked Concrete

  • Powers Power-Stud +SD2, Carbon Steel Anchors, SD4,SD6 Stainless Steel Anchors in Cracked and Uncracked Concrete

  • Powers Powder Actuated Fasteners, Ceiling Clip Assemblies and Sill Plate Anchorage

  • Powers Trak-IT Fasteners for Concrete, Masonry and Steel

  • Pure 110+Epoxy Adhesive Anchors System in Cracked and Uncracked Concrete

  • Powers Power-Stud + SD1 Expansion Anchors for Craked and Uncraked Concrete

  • Powers Trak-It C4 Fasteners

  • Powers Power-Stud + SD1 Anchors in Masonry

  • Powers Trak-It C5 Gas Operated Fasteners for Concrete, Masonry, and Steel

  • Powers 8mm Head Spiral CSI Pin, 10mm Head Drive Pin Power Driven Fasteners, and 8mm Head Spiral CSI Pin & Ceiling Clip Assembly

From Elco Construction, the massively popular Bi-Flex screws have LARR approvals. These stainless steel bi-metal self-drilling screws are used in curtain wall, window wall, architectural railings and more.

Hilti also offers a large selection of products with LARRs:

  • Hilti Bi-Metal Kwik-Flex Structural Fasteners for cold-formed steel, structural steel and aluminum

  • Steel Deck Diaphragms attached with Hilti S-MD 12-24 x 1 5/8M HWH5 Frame Fasteners

  • Hilti Kwik-Flex Structural Fasteners for Cold-Formed Steel and Aluminum

  • Hilti Low-Velocity Power Driven Fasteners

  • Hilti Low-Velocity X-U and X-U 15 Universal and X-P Concrete Powder Driven Fasteners

  • Hilti Low-Velocity Power Driven Track Fasteners

  • Hilti X-ENP-19-L15, X-EDN19-THQ12 and X-EDNK22-THQ12 Fasteners and Self-Drilling Screws, Button Punches for Steel Deck and Concrete-Filled Diaphragm Attachment.

  • Hilti X-HSN 24 Powder-Driven Fasteners for Attachment of Steel Deck Diaphragms

  • Hilti X-EDNK22 THQ12, X-EDN19 THQ12 OR X-ENP-19 L15 Power-Driven Fasteners and Hilti S-SLC01MHWH AND S-SLC02MHWH Sidelap Connectors

  • Hilti X-GPN 37 MX Power- Driven Fasteners Used to Attach Wood Structural Panels to Cold- Formed Steel Framing.

ITW Buildex has several products with approved LARRs, including ITW Buildex Teks SelectTM self-drilling structural fasteners for cold formed steel and aluminum connections, as well as Gyp-FastTM fasteners to attached gypsum sheathing to metal studs.

Lastly, Simpson Strong-Tie offers GDP Gas Actuated Fasteners and Powder-Actuated Fasteners with Los Angeles Research Report approvals.

If you need help sourcing fasteners with LARRs, contact China Special Fasteners at +86-755-27859830. We’ll be happy to help you get what you need.

Kyle Domer
How to Call Out Fasteners

Almost daily, we receive phone calls from customers who are trying to describe a fastener that they have or that they need, but don’t know how to articulate in the way most fastener industry experts do. Here, we will offer some quick guidance on how to call out a fastener like the pros.

In all cases, you’re going to start a fastener call out with some sort of diameter. You’ll then move on to another dimension (length, outside diameter, etc.), followed by the type of fastener it is, and the finish or coating you require. Let’s explore some examples for different types of fasteners.

Screw Example
1/4-20 x 1-3/4” Phillips Pan Head Machine Screw Steel Zinc Plated

  1. 1/4 → Diameter

  2. 20 → Thread pitch

  3. 1-3/4” → Length

  4. Phillips → Drive

  5. Pan Head → Head style

  6. Machine Screw → Type of screw

  7. Steel → Material

  8. Zinc Plated → Coating or plating

Nut Example
1/2-13 Finished Hex Nut Grade 8 Yellow Zinc

  1. 1/2 → Diameter

  2. 13 → Thread pitch

  3. Finished Hex Nut → Type of nut

  4. Grade 8 → Material

  5. Yellow Zinc → Coating or plating

Bolt Example
3/8-16 x 2-1/4” Carriage Bolt Grade 5 Zinc

  1. 3/8 → Diameter

  2. 16 → Thread pitch

  3. 2-1/4” → Length

  4. Carriage Bolt → Type of bolt

  5. Grade 5 → Material

  6. Zinc → Coating or plating

Washer Example
5/16 x 1-1/4 Fender Washer Brass Nickel Plated

  1. 5/16 → Bolt diameter for which the washer will be paired with

  2. 1-1/4 → Outer diameter

  3. Fender Washer → Type of washer

  4. Brass → Material

  5. Nickel Plated → Coating or plating

Now that you’re a fastener call-out expert, give us a call at +86-755-27859830 or text us at +86-755-27838591 to try out your new skills. If you’re still trying to figure out which fastener is right for your application, contact us for help.

Kyle Domer
How to Use Kitting Services to Decrease Your Labor Needs

As the tightened labor market continues heading into 2022, and the costs of adding new employees and maintaining current ones increases, many companies are rightly looking for ways to reduce their labor needs. If you’re selling a finished project with packaged fasteners (and other parts), China Special Fasteners has a great solution for you.

China Special Fasteners' custom packaging and kitting services will streamline your production and decrease your labor costs. Our service takes away the overwhelming task of tracking and managing multiple parts and materials by allowing you to order a variety of parts with a single part number. We maintain the highest quality standards for machine or hand-packed kits and custom packaging. Kits can include multiple parts, including both fasteners and non-fasteners, as well as instruction sheets, material certs and more.

You should consider kitting if you:

  • are currently kitting in-house now

  • want to cut down on labor costs

  • want to streamline production

  • want to reduce packaging content errors and costs from lost parts

  • order the parts repeatedly for use in the same location

  • provide parts and/or printed materials with your product to be used by the customer

fastener pacakge

Outsourcing your kitting and packaging to China Special Fasteners allows you to reduce your labor needs in two ways. You’ll require less shop floor labor to do the actual kitting and packaging, and you’ll also be able to reduce your office labor, since there will be no kitting/packaging employees to manage.

For more information on custom kitting and packaging services, contact China Special Fasteners at +86-755-27859830.

Kyle Domer
How Supply Chain Issues are Affecting the Fastener Industry

With so much in the news about supply chain issues, many companies who purchase large quantities of fasteners are wondering how they will be affected. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had a universal impact on the supply chain, triggering port congestion, disruptions at Chinese plants, high demand and longer lead times. The fastener industry is not immune to these challenges.

Since the majority of standard commodity fasteners come from manufacturing facilities overseas, and primarily in China, we first must examine the situation at the ports in Long Beach and Los Angeles. Maritime ports and terminals handle over 80% of all internationally traded goods. Factors that cause the disruptions at the ports include stockpiling of goods, containers piling up at the ports, which slows the entire system down –  less space to move containers between docks and ships, less space for trucks, and fewer chassis available because containers are sitting on them, and workforce reductions due to illness.

While the port congestion has caused a delay, significant progress has already been made to clear the pile up. The Department of Transportation has teamed up with local authorities to waive fees, extend working hours, and create grants for ports seeking to clear up congestion and create a more resilient system overall. If this post had been written in September of 2021, we would see dwell times (the average number of days a container has spent on the dock) that were double, sometimes even triple, the pre-pandemic figure. In just one recent week, the number of containers that have been dwelling on the docks for at least nine days has fallen over twenty percent, according to data provided by the ports. In two weeks, the number of ships off the California coast that were waiting to be unloaded went from 111 to 61. It seems we are sure to see delays for at least a while longer, but this situation is quickly getting resolved with the new measures put in place, and should not cause any further problems by early in 2022.

The next issue causing potential supply chain issues for the fastener industry is the ongoing effects of the coronavirus pandemic. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chinese plants reduced shifts, reduced the number of workers at one facility at a time, and had a shortage of workers due to illness. As vaccines rolled out and more information was available, we saw an increase in production and a short time of progress in the output coming from Chinese plants. However, new variants and outbreaks of COVID have slowed down production again. Industrial production rose 5.3% in August from a year earlier, narrowing from an increase of 6.4% in July and marking the weakest pace since July 2020, data from the National Bureau of Statistics showed. With the emergence of the Omicron variant, some countries (including China) may choose to enact renewed restrictions to control transmission of the newest variant. This will lead to longer lead times, decreased output, and a delay in the final product production. Unlike the delays caused by port congestion, this factor is harder to see the end of, and we can expect some of its effects to linger on deep into 2022, and possibly even into early 2023.

Lastly, there is currently very high demand for fasteners due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the reopening of manufacturing plants that were bottlenecked during coronavirus outbreaks. One sector that is rapidly growing and has seen an increase in demand for fasteners is the medical device industry. Respiratory systems and monitoring equipment, such as ventilators, all require very specific assembly, including fasteners. Overflow hospitals were built throughout the world and continue to be built in order to meet anticipated needs more quickly. Additionally, with the new infrastructure law now signed by President Biden, we’re likely to see demand increase rapidly for domestically manufactured fasteners.

When you combine all of these factors, we anticipate mixed effects to the fastener industry’s supply chain. Where the port congestion will surely improve, the effects of the ongoing pandemic are lesser known, and the increased demand caused by new initiatives and backed up factories will likely increase lead times. For assistance in making sure your fastener supply isn’t impacted by supply chain issues, contact China Special Fasteners at +86-755-27859830.

Kyle Domer
Are DURA-CON or Molykote Fasteners Better for Solar Installations?

DURA-CON Corrosion Resistant Fasteners

Because PV solar arrays are exposed to harsh weather conditions, the fasteners included in their mounting systems should always have a high level of corrosion resistance. While many engineers choose standard stainless steel fasteners due to their longstanding reputation for corrosion resistance, there are actually better options.

DURA-CON and Molykote are newer proprietary coatings marketed for use in solar panels installations and other outdoor environments. Both of these coating claims to have both corrosion resistant properties and properties meant to decrease the friction coefficient of the assembly to reduce the possibility of galling.

While there is limited independent test data for Molykote fasteners, DURA-CON Corrosion Resistant Fasteners have been specifically tested in aluminum solar panel racking materials, withstanding 1500 hours of Salt Spray per ASTM B-117 with zero corrosion.

DURA-CON Salt Spray Test Results
Click to enlarge.

DURA-CON Fasteners employ a three layer coating system that consists of an inorganic zinc-rich first coat and an aluminum-rich organic second coat. Friction modifiers are integrated into the topcoat, resulting in repeatable torque tension characteristics during assembly. Molykote fasteners are said to have a “paint-like” solution applied to them to reduce friction, but without supporting test data.

Additionally, the proprietary DURA-CON coating allows for use of Grade 5 bolts, which are stronger than A307 zinc, hot dip galvanized or 300 series stainless steel bolts. All of this adds up to a finished product that is high strength, with high corrosion resistance, and no galling.

If you’d like more information or pricing for DURA-CON Corrosion Resistant Fasteners, contact China Special Fasteners at +86-755-27859830. You can also buy DURA-CON fasteners online at www.chinaspeciaLparts.com.

Kyle Domer
Solar Trends in 2022 and How They Relate to Fasteners

Solar energy has been a fast-growing industry around the world since the mid-2000s, with China Special Fasteners first launching the Solar Fastener Expert program in 2008. Here’s a look at where it’s headed in 2022.

Experts predict that the solar sector will grow at an average of 13% per year between 2020 and 2030. Forecasters anticipate that approximately 42 million people will work with renewable energy systems by 2050.

The U.S. solar market is expected to hit $22.9 billion by 2025. The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) projects that over the next five years, installations will more than double in solar capacity, surpassing 100 GW by 2022. Over 242,000 Americans were employed in the solar industry in 2019, double the number from 2012.

In December 2020, Congress passed an extension of the ITC (federal solar investment tax credit), which provides a 26% tax credit for systems installed in 2020-2022, and 22% for systems installed in 2023. The tax credit expires starting in 2024 unless Congress renews it. Homeowners will be able to take advantage of the solar tax credit well into 2022, and may even rush to do so, creating higher than anticipated demand in 2022.

Declining prices for solar panels and batteries will continue, attracting new buyers. Over 96 percent of net new energy generation capacity in 2022 will come from solar and wind sources, according to Deloitte. Solar construction costs fell by 37 percent from 2013 to 2017, and analysts predict that the costs of constructing solar power technology will continue to decrease at an average rate of 4.4% each year.

The selection of products powered by solar will expand in 2022. "Solar-powered equipment will be the buzzword in the world," says Solar Power Nation. Generators, phone chargers, speakers, security lights, fans and lanterns can all utilize solar power energy. Outlet-free outdoor equipment will grow as a sector, and create opportunities for solar companies. These items will appeal to people searching for a green option, as well as people who face extreme weather events that create problems like blackouts.

All of the evidence points in the direction of the solar power industry continuing to grow in 2022. As the market matures, manufacturers will need to innovate even more, and fasteners and mounting solutions will be one of the primary drivers of small-scale innovation.

If you’re looking for a supplier of standard stainless steel fasteners for solar installations, mounting hardware for residential or commercial rooftop PV arrays, or even fall protection for solar installers, look no further than China Special Fasteners. Contact us at +86-755-27859830 to learn how we can help your solar company get it right, right on time.

Kyle Domer
What the New Infrastructure Law Means for the Fastener Industry

On November 15th, President Joe Biden signed his $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill. With bipartisan support, the legislation invests in funding for roads and bridges, rail, transit, ports, airports, the electric grid, water systems and expanded broadband. Eric Hoplin, National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) CEO, stated that “this legislation will help the wholesale distribution industry more efficiently move goods and materials across the country, benefitting both American businesses and consumers. Bipartisan collaboration results in great achievements for our country, and this investment in infrastructure is a victory for all Americans.” So, the question for our industry now is “What does this historic legislation mean for the fastener world?”

Updating and upgrading US infrastructure as the economy recoveries will create opportunities in many sectors, which would lead to a higher demand for fasteners and all materials. Building new physical infrastructure will require various steel products, cement, lumber, and other material inputs. Modernizing federal equipment includes buying new vehicles. The bill includes a total of $40 billion of new funding for bridge repair, replacement, and rehabilitation, which is the single largest dedicated bridge investment since the construction of the interstate highway system. The deal’s $65 billion investment ensures every American has access to reliable high-speed internet with an historic investment in broadband infrastructure deployment. The bill sets aside $7.5 billion to help build a national network of electric vehicle charging stations. Biden's ultimate goal is to have a nationwide network of 500,000 EV chargers.

The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) estimates that for every $100 billion of new investment in infrastructure it could increase demand for domestic steel by as much as 5 million st. The Steel Manufacturers Association shared a similar estimate, stating that every $100 billion of investment can incrementally increase steel demand by 4 million st to 6 million st. Passage of the bill provides a "tremendous boost" to the US steel industry, Kevin Dempsey, CEO of the American Iron and Steel Association, said in a statement.

Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), said, "Solar is a job-creator, and the long-term tax incentives for solar, storage and domestic manufacturing will put us on a path to decarbonize the electric grid, reach the President’s 2035 clean energy target, and create hundreds of thousands of quality career opportunities in every community."

As you can see, most of these initiatives will require significant use of fasteners of some type. Due to its federal funding, the fasteners used in these projects will likely need to be made in the USA, and some will need to be mil-spec fasteners. If you’d like assistance sourcing domestically manufactured or mil-spec fasteners, contact China Special Fasteners at +86-755-27859830 for help.

Kyle Domer
The Most Common Types of Solar Fasteners

China Special Fasteners is pleased to offer all of the most common solar fasteners for PV installations. What you see here is just a small selection of the most popular stainless steel solar fasteners. In fact, we stock 60,000+ different types of solar fasteners in our warehouse!

 
 
Kyle Domer
The King of Solar Fasteners: The Lag Bolt
SS-hex-lagbolt_1024x1024.jpeg

One of the most common fasteners used in solar installation is the 5/16 x 3-1/2” (18-8) stainless steel lag bolt, sometimes referred to as a lag screw. These fasteners were created to connect larger pieces of lumber together, but solar installations often require lag bolts to secure roof mounted systems directly onto the roof’s structure.

Solar racking manufacturers place the responsibility onto the installer to ensure there is enough “pullout strength” and shear “capacities” for the lag screws being used. The type of wood that solar racking is being attached to will affect the performance of a lag screw. A pilot hole needs to be pre-drilled for proper installation, and the drill bit used for the pilot hole should be undersized to allow the lag bolt to bind to the material during installation.

While there is no standard definition for the mechanical components of lag screws, guides for design and commonly used dimensions can be found in the American Wood Council’s ANSI/AF&PA NDS-2005 National Design Specifications (NDS) for Wood Construction. The most common variation occurring in lag screws is that of the shank length.

Lag bolts are ideal for heavy duty applications when a high level of stability is required. If you have any questions about using lag screws in solar installations, contact us for help. You can also buy lag bolts directly online at REQUEST A QUOTE.

 

Lag bolt pilot hole diameters. Click here to download (PDF).

Lag bolt pull-out capacities. Click here to download (PDF).

 
Kyle Domer