Aircraft Hardware and Abrasives

Posted on October 29, 2020 Henry Fayol Fasteners

When constructing and maintaining aircraft structures and systems, there are a number of hardware and abrasive components that are utilized to ensure the job is completed smoothly from start to finish. Despite the small size of aircraft hardware pieces like fasteners, such parts play crucial roles in sustaining robust connections, assemblies, and structures that provide safety and functionality during flight. With abrasives, pieces can be worked on to reduce friction and may be shaped, furthering their ability to perform optimally. In this blog, we will discuss some of the primary aircraft hardware and abrasive components available, helping you understand the parts and equipment that are used to construct aircraft.

The main types of aircraft hardware that are used for construction and maintenance are threaded fasteners, and these include machine screws, turnlock fasteners, rivets, and nuts that are installed on aircraft in order to conjoin parts together through permanent or non-permanent means. Furthermore, hardware such as fasteners assist in distributing loads across assemblies, increasing the reliability and service life of systems and components within the aircraft.

On a typical aircraft, thousands of fasteners are implemented for construction, and many parts require regular dismantling for maintenance and replacement. To make this operation much easier, threaded fasteners such as bolts, machine screws, and nuts are often used for their high strength and ease of installation and removal. Components such as rivets and bolts are often utilized for structures that require high amounts of strength for load bearing, while machine screws are useful for affixing smaller components to surfaces or to one another. Threaded fasteners such as nuts are also beneficial to assemblies as they can ensure that bolts and screws are secured strongly, preventing them from becoming loose due to vibration and other conditions induced from flight.

The turnlock fastener is another type of hardware component that is useful for assembly, and they are typically utilized for the attachment of doors, panels, and plates that are regularly removed for maintenance needs. While there are various turnlock fastener types, their naming convention is typically based on the manufacturer trade name, including those such as the Camloc, Dzus, and Airloc fasteners.

As previously stated, abrasives are typically used during construction in order to shape or finish a component, and this is achieved through rubbing away material surfaces through friction. By finishing a product, surfaces become smooth and even, ensuring that assemblies fit together precisely and do not catch or snag other components during operation. To provide sufficient friction for finishing materials, abrasives utilize hard crystals such as silicon carbide, aluminum oxide, diamond, and cubic boron nitride. Depending on the material used, abrasives are considered either natural or manufactured. Additionally, there are also various abrasive types to accommodate for different parts and structures, and these include abrasive brushes, abrasive pads, abrasive stones, and grinding wheel equipment that are either operated by hand or through other means.

When choosing an abrasive for your needs, it is highly recommended that you always keep in mind that abrasion is only efficient when the abrasive material is harder than the component that it is being used on. To ensure that this principle is followed, one can always refer to the Mohs scale which ranks abrasives for their ability to scratch materials that are softer than them. On the Mohs scale, most abrasives have a hardness value that ranges anywhere from 6 to 10, meaning that they work well for metals, plastics, glass, stone, and wood.

With a set of high quality aircraft hardware components and abrasives, ensuring reliable and safe assemblies can be much easier to increase the service life of your parts for money savings. When it comes time to begin sourcing parts and components for your operations, let the experts at ASAP Part Services assist you with competitive pricing and rapid lead-times on everything you need. ASAP Parts Services is a leading online distributor of aircraft parts, operating as an FAA AC 00-56B, AS9120B, and ISO 9001:2015 certified enterprise. Get started on the purchasing process today and receive a personalized quote in 15 minutes or less!

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