Today, everything in life must be dual function. Think of the phone in your hand. At one point, a phone was only a phone – meant for keeping in touch with a far-off friend or family member and nothing more. Today, it’s more used as an internet consumption device than it is for its original purpose. While weld screws may seemingly have nothing to do with the cell phone in your hand – after all, there are no weld screws in the average cell phone, the multi-purpose nature of weld screws is what brings these two things together.
Weldable screws, like any other screw or bolt, are created to join two items together, but how they do it is the truly interesting part. Unlike standard screws, weld screws are meant to be welded onto a metal surface – leaving the rest of the screw’s shaft for a nut to allow it to be bolted to the other object – making the bonding agent dual rather than singular.
Due to the need to make them weldable, these screws must be made from specific types of metals. Weldable aluminum alloys are 2XXX alloys including 2219 and 2519 as well as many other wrought grades of aluminum. As for steel, low carbon stainless steel is often chosen to higher corrosion resistance.
The lack of carbon not only helps in the weldability, but also prevents brittleness, which can prevent snapping of the screws. All of these aspects must be taken into consideration when CFI’s engineers are designing a new part like a weld screw – whether it’s made out of steel or aluminum.
All shapes and sizes
In addition to materials, it turns out, like any other fastener, that weld screws can be made to any size. What does matter is your needs. Obviously, the bigger the job, or the higher weight two items you need to join, different materials are taken into consideration as well as higher gauges, etc. All of this must be taken into consideration when engineering or re-engineering a component.
Whatever you need, our engineers can do it here at Components for Industry. For more information, call us at 847-918-0333.
