Skills and Practices Flyer # 30

An occasional newsletter for sharing learnings from maintenance activities.

What Bolt Is That?

The bolts we use in our machinery are made to many different
standards. The properties of the common bolts we come across
are defined in Australian Standard 4291.1 (ISO standard 898-1) or
SAE standard J429.

A key property of a bolt is its tensile strength, and these 2

standards define the bolt strength in different ways.

The metric system uses Property Classes while the imperial system uses Strength
Grades.

The ISO Property Classes are 3.6, 4.6, 4.8, 5.6, 5.8, 6.8, 8.8, 9.8, 10.9, 10.9, and 12.9.
The SAE Strength Grades are 1, 2, 3, 5, 5.1, 5.2, 8, and 8.2.

Corresponding SAE Nominal Tensile

ISO Property Class
Strength Grade Strength MPa.
This table shows the 3.6 300
relationship between 4.6 1 400
these 2 systems. 5.6 2 500
Note the differences.
e.g. a Class 8.8 bolt 5.8 500
does NOT have the 6.8 3 600
same strength as a 8.8 5 800
Grade 8 bolt! 10.9 8 1000
12.9 1200

The class or grade of a bolt can normally be determined just by looking at the marks
that are found on the head of the bolt.

Metric bolts are simply marked with their ISO Property Class number. They may also have a
manufacturers mark (indicated in these examples by * ), and the decimal point may be
omitted.
COMMON METRIC STEEL BOLTS

* * * *

4.6 5.8 8.8 10.9

ISO ISO ISO ISO

Property Property Property Property
Class 4.6 Class 5.8 Class 8.8 Class 10.9

What bolt is that.doc Prepared by Rod Bennett +61 3 59796717 9/01/2007 1/2
Bluescope Steel 2006. This Flyer is prepared for BlueScope Steel's purposes and may not be
directly applicable to your circumstances. It is a summary of a topic and is not a substitute for professional advice.
 * Metric socket head cap screws use
the same system of marks. 12.9
These marks may be on *
12.9 the side of the head.

COMMON INCH STEEL BOLTS

Unified bolts (UNC / UNF) are * * *

marked according to the table
on the right. They may also
have a manufacturers mark.

SAE Grade SAE Grade SAE Grade

2 5 8

Stainless steel bolts are manufactured to ISO Standard 3506-1. *

The bolt material is defined by two blocks of text separated by
a hyphen. See example opposite and details below.
A4 - 70

Material Group Austenitic Ferritic Martensitic

Steel Grade A1 A2 A4 F1 C1 C4 C3

Property Class 50 70 80 45 60 50 70 80
Soft

Strength
Worked

Soft

Soft
Worked

Hardened +

Hardened +
Tempered

Tempered
Cold

High

Cold

British Standard Whitworth bolts (BSW) are only made in one low tensile grade. They have
no head marks apart from an optional manufacturers mark.

If you find a bolt with the Structural bolts made to

property class and 3 radial 8.8
the ASTM standard have a
marks (the manufacturers system of identification marks A325
mark is optional) it is a bolt for similar to that shown. They
structural purposes made to * may also have 3 radial
AS1252. marks.

What bolt is that.doc Prepared by Rod Bennett +61 3 59796717 9/01/2007 2/2
Bluescope Steel 2006. This Flyer is prepared for BlueScope Steel's purposes and may not be directly
applicable to your circumstances. It is a summary of a topic and is not a substitute for professional advice.