Q: I needed a lightweight fastener and tried aluminum but it can’t come close to sustaining the weight of my application. Can you suggest anything compatibly light weight that is stronger?
A: Titanium mass is about 50% less than steel however when compared to aluminium is still about 60% heavier. The important distinction about titanium is that it offers a superior strength to weight ratio unmatched by other fasteners. Titanium grade 5 offers 4x’s the strength of 316 stainless at half the weight. So you will get a slightly heavier fastener but considerably stronger. If you could reduce the diameter of the fastener you might be able to actually reduce the overall weight since Titanium Grade 5 could handle much higher loads.