Guide to Selecting Materials for Screw Fasteners (by Application)

M&M Automatic Fastener

Custom fasteners can be manufactured from a variety of materials, but it’s crucial to select the right material that will work for your particular application. Whether you’re planning to screw manufacturer fasteners to be used under extreme circumstances like military defense or need them for just cosmetic reasons, here are a few of the most common materials fasteners can be manufactured out of and the most common applications.

Most Common Custom Fastener Materials by Application

Steel Fasteners

Steel comes in a wide variety of strengths and forms, but four types are common in making custom fasteners:

Low carbon steel is great for a wide variety of applications including machine manufacturing, automotive manufacturing and medical manufacturing, but provides low strength in comparison to its steel counterparts.

Medium carbon steel is ideally used in making fasteners for automotive parts and manufacturing and sits on the medium level in the strength scale.

Alloy steel is often used in socket head products or critical joints because of its high level of strength.

Stainless Steel can also be used in a wide variety of applications, depending on the grade. 300 grade stainless steel fasteners have a medium level of strength and exceptional corrosion resistance allowing it to be used in a wide variety of applications. While 400 grade stainless steel has a medium to high level of strength and good corrosion resistance, but is best used in applications with thread cutting or forming.

Titanium Fasteners

Titanium is known as the premier material to manufacture fasteners from, with a high level of strength and top resistance to corrosion and wear. While it can be used in a variety of applications, it is most often found in high impact and wear instances such as within the aerospace industry.

Brass Fasteners

Brass is the most common copper-based alloy, and is relatively inexpensive to purchase and manufacture. Its strength is on the low scale, but it does provide relatively good resistance to corrosion. These are commonly used in marine applications or for purely cosmetic means.

Aluminum Fasteners

Aluminum is one of the most affordable materials to manufacture fasteners with and provides versatility. In a more pure form, it is best used for lightweight applications because it has lower strength level but good resistance to corrosion. However, when alloyed with other metals, it can resemble something that of a mild steel with a fraction of the weight.

These are just a few of the materials that these custom “screws” can be manufactured out of, but is a good place to start when you’re considering which materials would be best for your custom fasteners.

Not seeing the material you’re looking for? Let us know, and we can help you determine which materials would be best to manufacture your custom fasteners with.