Tightening control by ultrasound

Insufficient, excessive or heterogeneous tightening accounts for around 30% of static failures, and poor tightening conditions for 45% of fatigue failures. They are a recurring problem in all industries: transport, refineries, nuclear power, shipbuilding, etc., with a major financial and human impact.

Screwed and bolted assemblies are at the heart of the safety of many industrial structures.

To achieve a reliable assembly, it is necessary to use quality fasteners that comply with standardized mechanical characteristics, to control their installation by ensuring reproducibility, and to check their resistance over time.

To optimize the reliability of an assembly, two phases are necessary: prototype and production.

In the prototype phase, the aim is to verify and validate the minimum clamping conditions: tests involving dropping the assembly, shocks, repeated vibrations and temperature increases to which an assembly is subjected. A precise control method is needed to verify the clamping tension values after these tests.

In the production phase, the aim is to create an assembly specification including all its characteristics, and in particular the following points: assembly parts, clamping instructions, precision class, clamping means, method of checking clamping tensions...

Validation of this specification must be approved and validated by the design, methods and quality departments.

Hence the need to master the clamping operation with precise, reliable tooling.