Actually while hard materials tend to be brittle, it's not the same thing. Soft is not the same as ductile - eg carbon fibre composite has a very high tensile strength and low ductility but is nowhere near as hard as even aluminium. Hardness is a surface property, brittleness (resistance to crack propagation) and tensile strength, modulus of elasticity and ductility are all structural properties. Martin Sent from my BlackBerry® -----Original Message----- From: "K.L. (KAYO) Ong" <klo@xxxxxxxxx> Sender: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Date: Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:15:08 To: <dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Reply-To: dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: [DML] Modified Trailing Arms For 1/2" Bolts Too much hardness (brittle) is just as bad as too soft (ductile)... As for Toby's bolts.... So far, Toby's bolt has been serving my car very well on the roads and streets of NYC. since his introduction many years ago. Before Toby's bolts, I had replace the trailing arms bolt twice! First time, they were both bolts were bent upon inspection. The right side bolt was more bent to the point a shim or two fell out. The second time the right side bolt had actually snapped (sheared) off on a right turn!!! I was luck to be one block from home... Anyway, my DeLorean was then towed to Rob to have the replacement to have Toby's bolt installed... For what it is worth about softness and hardness about metals from the aviation industry.... Some years ago a helicopter had crashed. Upon inspection, the primary rotor blade's pivot securing bolt was at fault. This bolt was made in mainland China, where quality control was not a critical issue. To the manufacture, steel is steel... The problem was the bolt produced was way too soft and did not meet the required Rockwell hardness test as prescribed.... The bolt cost was $5.00 US.... It was five dollars versus the $20.00 US approved bolt by the F.A.A.!!! From that failure there were major lawsuits and I believe the Chinese manufacture got away with it, for one, it was overseas and government affiliated and two, the company just closed shop and change it's name... So, that is about soft metal. In the USA aviation industry/manufacturing, the rivets that are used are sent frozen from the manufactures until they are ready for usage upon assembly. If the rivets are removed from the freezer and they are not used and or they have been sitting around beyond a designated time, they are automatically scrapped. The reason is because the room temperature with bring up the molecules movements which raise their brittleness (work harden by temperature)... And also, the assembler who is pneumatically hammering the rivets must know that there are a prescribed amount of "hits" allow to the rivets. This is to not to over "work harden" the rivets upon compression which may create a condition for premature failure!!! Just several years ago, we have seen planes in the news with the fuselage parts ripped off or fallen off... Rivet, rivet... That is hardness in metals.... Kayo Ong #5508 Lic 9D NY On Feb 7, 2012, at 1:53 PM, Matthew wrote: > http://www.industrialchassisinc.com/Web-blog/?p=622 > > --- In dmcnews@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "Martin Gutkowski" <martin@...> wrote: > > > > Tensile strength is only part of the story, you have to be > careful with ductility, aka "brittleness" and in general with steel > the higher the tensile strength, the more brittle it becomes. A > suspension component should have a degree of ductility, but not to > the point of fatigue or elastic limit. The torque spec for the TABs > is far lower than would normally be applied to such a bolt. > > > > Martin > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnewsYahoo! Groups Links ------------------------------------ To address comments privately to the moderating team, please address: moderators@xxxxxxxxxxx For more info on the list, tech articles, cars for sale see www.dmcnews.com To search the archives or view files, log in at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnewsYahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/dmcnews/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: dmcnews-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx dmcnews-fullfeatured@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: dmcnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/