SmartBolts® Provide Visual Indication of TENSION
FACT: It is tension, not torque that securely fastens your bolted joints together.
FACT: In most cases, torque wrenches cannot measure bolt tension accurately.
FACT: Unknown friction factors can dramatically reduce the accuracy of using torque measurement to establish proper bolt tension. (And can ‘fool’ the installer into thinking the joint is tight!)
The use of torque wrenches to establish bolt tension may only be accurate to +/- 30% at best, because of unknown variations of the coefficient of friction. Factors affecting this coefficient include the material and size of the bolt, nut and washer, type of plating, surface smoothness, machining accuracy, corrosion or wear on the threads, presence and type of thread lubricant, the number of times a bolt has been previously tightened, and many other factors.
Fastener manufacturers often provide torque specifications for tightening various bolts to establish a required tension. However these torque specs are only accurate for one coefficient of friction and thus cannot account for inevitable changes in friction. Worse, even these potentially misleading specs are often not available in field applications, or their use is impractical or poorly administered.
Direct tension indicators, in contrast, respond to fastener tension ONLY, excluding the many factors affecting torque. Tension (also called preload or clamp force) is the one critical component ensuring your bolted joint is securely “tight”.
Get Tension. Get the SmartBolts Advantage.
Safer: SmartBolts® take the guesswork out of safety, giving you peace of mind because you know your bolts are doing their job. Using SmartBolts results in less fatigue for installers – no repeated torque wrench calibration, no sample re-tightening, no turn-of-nut confirmation required – installers can easily identify and focus on loose bolts to re-tighten. The ability to visually inspect fasteners also creates safer working conditions – particularly in elevated structures and areas exposed to hazardous materials.
Accurate: Immediate and accurate verification of tension through SmartBolts® technology is based on the most accurate principle used to measure fastener tension – actual fastener elongation under load. DTI SmartBolts® are accurate to within 10% of design tension.
Reliable: Bolts fitted with our indicators can be used and re-used time and again for a reliable reading of joint clamping force. When used according to specifications, SmartBolts® can have a useful life of 20+ years.
Savings at every stage of your business
When evaluating the cost of Direct Tension Indicating SmartBolts, it is important compare it to two main cost factors of available alternatives: total installed cost, also known as TIC, and the ongoing maintenance cost. The total installed cost includes the cost of the fastener, installation labor and inspection labor. The ongoing maintenance cost is the repeated charge for inspection labor on the fasteners once installed. SmartBolts implementation results in immediate savings and ongoing savings:
Save on Design: Incorporating SmartBolts® into product design means less of everything – number of fasteners, strength of fasteners and diameters of drilled openings, saving you and your customer time and money.
Save on Installation: SmartBolts® unique design eliminates the need for special tools or wiring during installation. Simply tighten the bolt till the indicator turns the proper color and move to the next one. We estimate SmartBolts® lower fastener installation times by up to 80% versus traditional methods.
Save on Maintenance: Visual indication is safer and it saves time and money. Maintenance personnel can simply look at bolts from several feet away for inspection, allowing them to focus on the loose bolts ONLY. In a typical two week maintenance cycle on an installation of 1000 fasteners, SmartBolts® can reduce maintenance time by 80% and costs by as much as 50%.
Learn More or to Order DTI SmartBolts
Submit our contact form with your questions or comments about DTI SmartBolts OR –
IF YOU CURRENTLY HAVE A SPECIFIC APPLICATION in mind for DTI SmartBolts, then we invite you to
complete our Application Qualifier to receive a quote.
