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.

ISO Property Class

Corresponding SAE
Strength Grade

3.6
4.6
5.6
5.8
6.8
8.8
10.9
12.9

This table shows the

relationship between
these 2 systems.
Note the differences.
e.g. a Class 8.8 bolt
does NOT have the
same strength as a
Grade 8 bolt!

1
2
3
5
8

Nominal Tensile
Strength MPa.
300
400
500
500
600
800
1000
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
omitted.

* ), and the decimal point may be

COMMON METRIC STEEL BOLTS

4.6

5.8

8.8

10.9

ISO
Property
Class 4.6

ISO
Property
Class 5.8

ISO
Property
Class 8.8

ISO
Property
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.

*
12.9

Metric socket head cap screws use

the same system of marks.
These marks may be on
the side of the head.

12.9

COMMON INCH STEEL BOLTS

SAE Grade
2

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.
Austenitic

SAE Grade
5

A4 - 70

50

70

80

Cold
Worked

F1

45

C4

C3

60

50

70

80

Hardened +
Tempered

Property Class

C1

Soft

A4

Martensitic

Cold
Worked

A2

Soft

A1

High
Strength

Steel Grade

SAE Grade
8

Ferritic

Soft

Material Group

Hardened +
Tempered

Unified bolts (UNC / UNF) are

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

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
property class and 3 radial
marks (the manufacturers
mark is optional) it is a bolt for
structural purposes made to
AS1252.

8.8

Structural bolts made to

the ASTM standard have a
system of identification marks
similar to that shown. They
may also have 3 radial
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.

A325