Skills and Practices Flyer # 59

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A document for sharing learnings about caring for equipment

Why Nuts and Bolts Come Loose

Loose and incorrectly tensioned bolts cause a huge range of reliability problems such as
flange leaks, high vibration, wear, bolt fatigue,
fatigue, hot electrical connections and things just
falling apart. This is often called vibration loosening but vibration is rarely the cause of
a bolt coming loose.

Mechanism for Bolts Coming Loose

If you place a block on a slope so that the block does
not slide and tap the block, the block will either side
to the bottom of the slope or at least slide a small
amount and then stop. When even a small amount
of movement occurs between the block and the
slope there is a large reduction in friction,
friction letting the
block slide. This is similar to what happens when
movement occurs between a
nut and the sloping thread of
the bolt.

By far the most common

reason for movement
between the thread of a nut
and a bolt is shown at right.
Any movement at a bolted
joint causes a small angle
change between the bolt and
the nut making micro thread rotation likely. In 98% of cases correct tightening of a
bolted joint will eliminate any movement and risk of loosening. See Skills and Practices
Flyer #33 for correct tightening of bolts using a torque wrench. Also many bolts come
loose because of forgetfulness, where someone nips up a bolt and then fails to come
back to carry out the final tightening.

For the
he 2% of cases where correct bolt tensioning will not eliminate bolt loosening,
loosening the
cause is likely to be impacts or other large
large forces applied to the joint.

After correct bolt tightening,

tightening what else can we do to Stop Bolt Loosening?
#59 Why Nuts and Bolts Come Loose Version 1 - 6/07/2009
Controlled by peter.todd@sirfrt.com.au - Prepared by Peter Todd for use by SIRF Roundtable Page 1 of 1
members. It is a summar
mary of a topic and not a substitute for professional advic
dvice.
Nut Locking Systems -When you think there maybe high loosening forces
Standard spring washers do NOT work.
work Anti-loosening washers can
be tested with a Junkers tester and standard spring washers (see
right) have been shown to give little extra protection and have
similar anti-loosening performance to a standard flat washer.
Nyloc and similar nuts have some anti-loosening
anti capability
but will not stand up to serious loosening forces.

Serrations - Anti-rotation
rotation systems that use
u hardened
serrations to stop nut and bolt rotation
rotati are very effective.
Serrated Washers or Whiz-locklock nuts & bolts
b (see right) both
work by the serrated points being harder than
tha the mating
Whiz-lock
Whiz
surfaces, digging in slightly and stopping rotation.
rotation
Bolt
olt & Nut
Thread Glues – Correct Specification Loctite, eg. 243
Threadlocker (for use with lube),
lube has proven performance
against loosening. The glue fillss the gaps between the
threads stoping thread movement & loosening. Glues do Serrated
not cause surface damage like serrated nuts and washers. Washer (under
bolt head & nut)
Mechanical Locking – For safety risk applications nut
wiring or other mechanically nut locking systems such as
Castle nuts are often used. Bolt and nut wiring is used
widely in aircraft applications.

Double Nuts – Double nuts can remove the clearance

between threads but only if they are correctly applied. Mechanical Locking
Castle Nut
Other Systems – There are many different anti-loosening
anti
systems sold. Ask for the results of Junkers tests
test compared
to the above systems before purchase.
Bolt
Warning - Anti-rotation
rotation systems for bolts and nuts
nut Fatigue
should only be a secondary measure.
measure Correct bolt
tensioning should always be the primary means of
eliminating bolt loosening. Even if nuts don’t unscrew,
Bolt & Nut
inadequate bolt tension causes many other issues such as
leaks, bolt fatigue, bolt wear and hot electrical joints.
Wear

#59 Why Nuts and Bolts Come Loose Version 1 - 6/07/2009

Controlled by peter.todd@sirfrt.com.au - Prepared by Peter Todd for use by SIRF Roundtable Page 2 of 2
members. It is a summar
mary of a topic and not a substitute for professional advic
dvice.