Everything about Torque Wrench - What You Must Know about Torque

As mentioned before, let's first understand what torque really is? In its basic form, torque is a measurement that measures turning or rotational force. When an amount of force is required to cause an object to rotate around an axis, that force is called torque! Most importantly, to measure this, both force and length are calculated.

When you try to open a door, you apply force to the side of the door that is far from the door hinges. Again, when you try to open the same door, it works a little by pressing against the part closest to the hinge. This is because torque is next to zero.

The door handles placement permits for the least amount of force that one can apply to the door centres on its hinge. When you measure one side of the door to the other, it reveals the length. This length needs to be multiplied by force to open the door successfully.

Torque application on bolt tension

To put it simply, when you need to create tension in a bolt, you need torque to play with it. Torque is used to turn a nut on a bolt, and then when it is stretched, try to make a solid spring that clamps the two materials together. The bolted materials cannot be broken or fall apart if the clamp load remains more than the pulling force.

Torque Tightening and its importance

Torque tightening is the perfect application of the torque on the nut so that the bolt can hold the heavyweight without breaking. When the materials are loose, it becomes structurally unsafe. And applying too much torque can break the bolt. But if you apply the proper amount of torque and the bolt is properly stretched, it will act as a solid spring to clamp the two materials together.

Nearly in all aspects of bolting, including tightening, one can apply torque. When you try to tighten the nuts and fasten them, you need to make sure whether you are using the right measure of torque.

Friction points and significance of lubrication

The moment torque is lost due to friction, that point is called the friction point. One can properly understand this fact as the touching threads between a nut and a bolt, and the bolt's material is clamping. If you have no idea about the friction points, you cannot know how much torque should be applied.

Due to friction, almost 85-95% of the torque will be lost. However, lubrication can help to reduce this friction. Lubrication helps to remove the stress and add more torque to the preload. This process decreases the chance of bolt failure at the time of installation and extends its life.

The sequence of Torque wrench tightening

During the time of torque tightening multiple bolts or flanges, one needs to balance the load across the bolts throughout the process. Here the point load in a specific spot of a structure should be evenly spread throughout the whole structure. As you are tightening the bolts at one time, you need to be sure that the bolts are carrying an even load.

Conclusion:

If you do not follow a proper torque tightening process, there is a chance that you are risking the under and over-tightening. When the torque pattern doesn't carry an even load throughout the process, you might end up having poor sealing. This results in leaking flanges and, as usual, not cutting corners. If you want to know more about torque wrench or torque tightening, try to follow some websites and online videos, where they will guide you with the process and can provide all of your torque tightening needs.