THREADED JOINTS

• Threaded joint is defined as a separable joint of two or more machine parts

that are held together by means of a threaded fastening such as a bolt and a
nut.

• Threaded joints are used to hold two or more machine parts together. These
parts can be dismantled, if required, without any damage to machine parts or
fastening – DETACHABLE JOINTS UNLIKE PERMANENT JOINTS
SUCH AS WELDED JOINTS.

• Basic element of these joints – THREAD - formed by cutting a continuous

helical groove on a cylindrical surface. Helical grooves may be cut either
right hand or left hand.

• A screw made by cutting a single helical groove on the cylinder is known as

single threaded or single-start screw.

• If a second thread is cut in the space between the groves of the first, a double
threaded or double-start screw is formed and so on.
• The popularity of threaded joints is due to certain advantages
offered by them.
a) The parts are held together by means of a large clamping force.
There is wedge action at the threads, which increases the
clamping force. There is no loosening of the parts.

b) Threaded joints have small overall dimensions resulting in

compact construction.

c) The threads are self-locking. Therefore, threaded joints can be

placed in any position—vertical, horizontal or inclined.

d) Threaded fasteners are economical to manufacture.

e) Threaded fasteners are standardised and a wide variety is

available for different operating conditions and applications.
 Disadvantages
• Threaded joints require holes in the machine parts that are to
be clamped. This results in stress concentration near the
threaded portion of the parts.

• Threaded joints loosen when subjected to vibrations.

 MAJOR PARTS OF A THREAD FASTENING

Bolt/ Screw
• bolt is a fastener with a head and straight threaded shank and
intended to be used with a nut to clamp two or more parts. The
same bolt can be called screw when it is threaded into a tapped
hole in one of the parts and not into the nut.
• A bolt is held stationary, while torque is applied to the nut to
make threaded joint, whereas the torque is applied to the screw to
turn it into matching threads in one of the parts

Bolt Screw
Nut
A small symmetrical part, usually having hexagonal or square shape,
containing matching internal threads

Washer
Thin annular shaped metallic disks used to prevent impairment of
the bolt head and nut surface during assembly.
 BASIC TYPES OF SCREW THREADS
Through Bolts
• simply called a ‘bolt’ or a ‘bolt and nut’.
• The bolt consists of a cylindrical rod with head at one end and
threads at the other. The cylindrical portion between the head and
the threads is called shank.
• The shank passes through the holes in the parts to be fastened.
• The threaded portion of the bolt is screwed into the nut.
• The head of the bolt and the nut are either hexagonal or square.
Tap Bolts and Cap Screws
• The tap bolt is turned into a threaded (tapped) hole in one of the
parts being connected and not into a nut.

• Cap screws are similar to tap bolts. However, they are available
in small sizes from 5 mm to 30 mm nominal diameter and they
have a variety of shapes for their head.
Studs
• A stud is a cylindrical rod threaded at both ends. One end of
the stud is screwed into the tapped hole in one of the
connecting parts. The other end of the stud receives a nut.
 TERMINOLOGY OF SCREW THREADS
When the screw is vertical, the thread lines slope upward from left
to right in case of right-hand threads. On the other hand, the thread
lines slope downward from left to right in case of left-hand threads.
Major Diameter (d): The major diameter is the diameter of an
imaginary cylinder that bounds the crest of an external thread (d)
or the root of an internal thread (D). The major diameter is the
largest diameter of the screw thread. It is also called the nominal
diameter of the thread.

Minor Diameter (d1): The minor diameter is the diameter of an

imaginary cylinder that bounds the roots of an external thread (dc)
or the crest of an internal thread (Dc). The minor diameter is the
smallest diameter of the screw thread. It is also called core or root
diameter of the thread.
• Pitch (P): Pitch is the distance between two similar points on
adjacent threads measured parallel to the axis of the thread. It is
denoted by the letter p.

• Pitch Diameter (d2): Theoretical diameter between the major

and minor diameters
d2 = [d – (p/2)] = [(d + d1)/2]

• Lead: Lead is the distance that the nut moves parallel to the axis
of the screw, when the nut is given one turn.

• Thread Angle Thread angle is the angle included between the

sides of the thread measured in an axial plane. Thread angle is
60o for ISO metric threads (V-thread).
Tensile Stress Area
• It has been observed during testing of the threaded rods that an
unthreaded rod, having a diameter equal to the mean of the pitch
diameter and the minor diameter [i.e., (d1 + d2)/2] has the same
tensile strength as the threaded rod. The cross-sectional area of this
unthreaded rod is called the ‘tensile-stress area’.

• This area is used for the purpose of calculating the tensile strength
of the bolts.
 DESIGNATION OF SCREW THREADS

• A screw thread is designated by the letter ‘M’ followed by the

diameter and the pitch, the two being separated by a ‘x’ sign.

• To specify tolerances, the following tolerance grades are used:

 7 – fine grade
 8 – normal (medium) grade
 9 - Coarse grade

• Tolerance position is specified as follows:

 ‘H’ for unit thread
 ‘d’ for bolt thread with allowance
 ‘h’ for bolt thread without allowance
DESIGN OF SCREW THREADS
 Initial Stresses due to Screwing up
(tightening) - Pre stress

• Tensile stress due to stretching of bolt

• Torsional shear stress due to frictional resistance at threads

• Shear stress across thread

• Compressive or Crushing Stress on thread

• Bending stress if the surface of the bolt head or nut are not
perfectly parallel to the bolt axis
Bending stress in bolt
 Stresses due to external load
• Tensile Stress

• Shear Stress

• Combined tensile and shear

Flange Coupling – Bolt in Shear
Stresses due to combined initial loading
and external load
when a preloaded bolt is in tension or compression the resultant load on the
bolt will depend on the relative elastic yielding of the bolt and the connected
members.

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