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Control of
Fastener Better
Failures Buildings
from
Better
Fasteners
Gregg Melvin Senior Applications Engineer
Elco Construction Products
2012 Elco Construction Products
AIA Credits: Elco Construction Products an Infastech company is
Registered Provider with American Institute of Architects
Continuing Education Systems. Credit earned on completion of this
program will be reported to CES Records for AIA members.
Certificates of Completion for non-AIA members available on
request.
This program is registered with the AIA/CES for continuing
professional education. As such, it does not include content that
may be deemed or construed to be an approval or endorsement by
the AIA of any material of construction or any method or manner of
handling, using, distributing, or dealing in any material or product.
Questions related to specific materials, methods, and services will
be addressed at the conclusion of this presentation.
Copyright Materials
SPECIFYING FASTENERS
Risks and Responsibilities
For want of a fastener
For want of a nail,
the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe,
the horse was lost.
For want of a horse,
the rider was lost.
VISIBLE CORROSION
Rust and Galvanic Action
Before considering HASCC, lets review
some basics of ordinary fastener corrosion:
Oxidation (Rusting)
Galvanic Corrosion
Must it Rust?
Most architectural fasteners are made from grades or alloys of steel that will
react with oxygen to create ferrous oxide, commonly know as rust. Rust is a
type of corrosion that weakens and deteriorates steel. Rusting is
accelerated when steel is also exposed to moisture, especially if the
moisture contains chlorides (salts), a condition that is common in marine,
industrial, and urban atmospheres.
When designing steel-to-steel connections,
both the fasteners and the items being
joined must be protected against rusting.
Steel building panels, for example, can be
protected by using zinc galvanizing and a
high-performance coating.
As a general guideline, fasteners should
have greater corrosion resistance than Once rust starts, it can
items being joined so that fasteners do not spread rapidly to adjacent
become weakest link in connection. exposed steel surfaces.
Corrosion-Resistant Plating
How they work:
1. Barrier against air and moisture.
2. Sacrificial, galvanic protection.
Available Types:
Hot-dipped galvanizing: Thick zinc clogs
threads.
Plating is not Electroplated Zinc: Insufficient protection for
acceptable protection exterior or high performance fasteners.
for high performance
fasteners. Cadmium and Hexavalent Chromates:
Greater protection, but environmental
concerns.
Plating is contraindicated for case-
hardened fasteners.
Corrosion-Resistant Coatings
Better protection for high-
performance fasteners.
Base Coat: Baked-on, zinc-
rich, cross-linked polymer.
Top-Coat: Baked-on,
aluminum-rich, cross-linked
polymer. Pigments optional.
Colors provide product Eco-friendly: Minimize or
identification and
aesthetics. eliminate heavy metals.
Lubricate threads: Eases
installations
Corrosion-Resistant Stainless Steel
300-series stainless steel provides greater corrosion
resistance.
Use for critical structural connections, exposed
exteriors, and in locations with corrosive environments.
Can require coating for protection against galvanic
corrosion of materials they are attaching.
Galvanic Corrosion
Occurs when dissimilar metals are in presence of an
electrolyte (an electrically conductive medium) and form a
galvanic cell.
Like an electric battery, except two pieces of metal form a
circuit. H+
H+ H+
(electrolyte)
Galvanic Series
Metals conduct electricity because they have a tendency to give
up electrons easily. Some metals give up electrons more easily
than others. They can be listed in order of their potential to yield
electrons, in a table known as a Galvanic Series.
Cathode (Least Active)
More noble Gold
(protected and Silver
less corroded) Aluminum is more active
Stainless Steel
Bronze
(anodic) than steel or
Copper stainless steel. Where
Brass aluminum and steel form a
Nickel galvanic cell, aluminum
Lead
will corrode, sacrificing
Steel & Iron
Less noble
Aluminum
electrons that will deposit
(sacrificial
and more Zinc onto and protect the steel.
corroded) Magnesium
Anode (Most Active)
Galvanic Corrosion
This aluminum plate received two screws made from 300-series stainless steel,
a grade that is highly resistant to oxidation and rusting. It was then exposed to
1000 hours of salt-water spray that acted as an electrolyte to form a galvanic
cell between the aluminum plate and stainless steel fasteners. The screws
were them removed to allow examination of the plate.
HASCC
The Invisible Corrosion
A secondary effect of the galvanic reaction can
also lead to fastener failures. Hydrogen, a by-
product of galvanic corrosion, can weaken
standard, hardened fasteners and cause them to
fail. It produces a type of corrosion that is not
readily apparentuntil it is too late.
Construction Scene Investigation
20 years after installation, self-drilling screws began
snapping for no apparent reason.
Screws complied with code requirements and industry
standards.
They had been exposed to weather due to roof damage,
but were not visibly corroded.
Scanning electron micrographs
revealed fractured fastener
surfaces and separated grain
boundaries in steel.
Screws had also lost ductility.
Cross-section of failed
case-hardened fastener:
HASCC Failure Mode
Strength loss due to
Ductile and Embrittlement
Mode
Ductile failure due to
reduced cross-section
of fastener.
Stress Concentration
Stress increases steels susceptibility to embrittlement.
Stress concentration occurs at screw heads for 3 reasons:
1. MANUFACTURE
Deformations
required to form
steel rod into screw
heads induces
stress into metal.
Stress Concentration
2. CLAMPING FORCES
When screws are tightened, their
heads bear on the surface of the
object being attached.
HASCC SOLUTIONS
For Self-Drilling Screws
Benefits of Self Drilling Screws
Self-drilling screws require just seconds of
installation time and labor VS that required for
nuts-and-bolts, rivets, and other fasteners requiring
pre-drilled holes.
Fasteners install in single, fast operation using a
power driver.
They are much faster than two-handed
Dril-Flex.exe bolt-and-nut
installations, and more practical where the back
side is not accessible for installing a nut.
With hundreds of thousands of fasteners used in
large buildings, this represents an enormous
savings in labor.
Use to install windows, cladding, curtain wall,
framing, anchors, equipment, fixtures, and other
building components.
Design of Self Drilling Screws
Select head style for
easy installation,
Tip drills pilot hole. acceptable profile,
and pull-over
resistance
Lead threads tap
threads into Select
thread style
substrate, so to hold in
substrate
substrate acts as nut.
Lead threads cut
Available in threads into (tap)
substrate for pull-out
configurations to suit resistance
Vir
tua
to lly Im
HA m
SC un
C e
A Metallurgical Marvel
There are two ways to achieve this performance:
Selectively Hardened Fasteners
Bi-Metal Fasteners
High-Carbon
Steel Tip,
Selectively
Hardened
Recommended
for exposed
fasteners.
Corrosion-Resistant Coatings
Use corrosion-resistant coatings on both selectively
hardened and bi-metal fasteners.
Coating provides galvanic protection and lubricates
threads.
Coating can be color matched as required.
HASCC-
resistant
fasteners
are not
affected
Standard
case-hardened
fasteners failed
PROOF
PROOF
HASCC-resistant
screws were used to
secure crown at top of
building and building
envelope.
Exposed to marine and
urban atmosphere,
high winds, and
earthquakes.
Over two decades of
service.
US Bank Building/
Zero failures. Los Angeles, CA
Pei Cobb Freed Partners
Best Industry Practices
Where dissimilar metals will be
in contact, specify: selectively-
hardened self-drilling
fasteners to resist HASCC.
SPECIAL FASTENERS
Extreme Loads
Structure is subjected to brief loads far higher than
normal operating loads.
Risks include:
Hurricane, tornado, and windblown missile impact
Earthquake, tsunami, landslide, avalanche
Industrial accidents and vehicular collisions
Load redistribution due to failure of building elements
Explosion, including boiler, natural gas leaks, attack
Located near possible targets
If there is reason to suspect a risk, design for it.
elements.
Ductile fasteners can deform to
absorb some load while
maintaining connection.
If fasteners are brittle, extreme Extreme loads can
loading may cause them to fail. affect all building
components, not just
Using ductile, HASCC-resistant
structural members.
fasteners helps assure full design
strength of fasteners can be used
to resist extreme loads.
Where to Specify
Blast-resistant windows
Curtain wall framing
Building equipment
Critical life safety and
communications
equipment
To assure continuous
service of essential
facilities
Concrete and Masonry Screws
Choice of
head styles Specifying concrete
and masonry Choice of
head
anchors also styles
requires
Grade 5
hardness for
consideration of
strength and
ductility
dissimilar metals
and corrosion
resistance. Hi-lo
thread
A variety of special taps into
masonry
Higher designs are
hardness for
tapping available to satisfy
threads
most construction
requirements.
Concrete Masonry
Pressure-Relief Fasteners
In buildings with potential for
interior explosions, special panels
can be designed to blow off and
relieve pressure, a built in safety
valve.
Examples include places where
highly volatile liquids are in use, or
storage for extremely fine dry,
materials subject to dust-explosion.
Pressure-Relief Fasteners
panel
Panels have an holes larger separates
from framing
than fastener heads. panel
member
centering
A special aluminum washer device
Normal Explosion
Panel is tethered to keep it
from becoming a dangerous
missile.
Threaded Rod Anchors
Threaded rods are used to support fire-sprinklers and other essential building
services. These fasteners simplify installation while protecting against potential
failures of other fastening methods that are not positively engaged in the
structural materials.
Sealing Washers
www.elcoconstruction.com
Gregg Melvin
(815) 979-3249
gmelvin@infastech.com