Low swage load fastening system and method

1. A fastener, comprising:

a pin member having an elongated pin shank adapted to be located in aligned openings in a plurality of workpieces, the pin member terminating at one end in a head that is adapted to engage a surface on one side of the workpieces and at its opposite end in a grooved portion that is adapted to extend past an opposite surface on an opposite side of the workpieces, the grooved portion including a locking portion having a plurality of lock grooves defined by circumferentially extending pin grooves and associated pin shoulders terminating in pin crests; and

an as-headed collar including a generally straight collar shank that is adapted to be swaged into the lock grooves of the pin member in response to a swage load applied between the pin member and the as-headed collar, thereby providing a desired magnitude of clamp load on the workpieces, the as-headed collar, when swaged, having collar grooves and collar shoulders that interlock with the pin grooves and the pin shoulders,

wherein the pin member and the as-headed collar include ultimate shear stresses of different magnitudes in order that yielding of the pin member is substantially avoided upon swaging the collar to the pin member,

wherein the as-headed collar does not require thermal processing, and the collar shank of the as-headed collar has a wall thickness which is relatively thin, thereby reducing the swage load required to swage the as-headed collar,

and wherein the as-headed collar has an outer diameter and an inner diameter, and wherein the ratio of the outer diameter to the inner diameter of the as-headed collar is between about 1.47 to 1.55.

2. The fastener of claim 1 , wherein the wall thickness of the collar shank of the as-headed collar is adapted to resist overpacking of the lock grooves of the pin member, thereby further reducing the swage load required to swage the as-headed collar.

3. The fastener of claim 1 , wherein the collar exhibits physical properties sufficient to qualify for a fastener Grade selected from the group consisting of Grade 5 and Grade 8.

4. The fastener of claim 3 , wherein the hardness of the as-headed collar is between about 85 Rb to 95 Rb.

5. The fastener of claim 1 , wherein the as-headed collar is made from unannealed low carbon steel.

6. The fastener of claim 1 , wherein the as-headed collar is made from annealed low carbon steel.

7. The fastener of claim 1 , wherein the collar includes an enlarged flange at one end of the collar shank, the enlarged flange being adapted to engage a confronting surface on an adjacent one of the workpieces.

8. The fastener of claim 1 , further comprising an assembly tab adapted to engage the lock grooves of the pin member in order to hold the fastener in an assembled position with a predetermined preload before the as-headed collar is swaged.

9. A fastener, comprising:

a pin member having an elongated pin shank adapted to be located in aligned openings in a plurality of workpieces and terminating at a first end in a head which engages a surface on one side of the workpieces and at a second end in a grooved portion which extends past an opposite surface on an opposite side of the workpieces, the grooved portion including a locking portion having a plurality of lock grooves defined by circumferentially extending pin grooves and associated pin shoulders terminating in pin crests, the locking portion of the pin member having an outer diameter;

a substantially straight pull portion extending from the second end of the pin member and including a plurality of pull grooves, the pull portion having an outer diameter which is smaller than the outer diameter of the locking portion of the pin member; and

a collar including a generally straight collar shank adapted to be swaged into the lock grooves of the pin member in response to a relative axial pulling force applied to the pull portion of the pin member, thereby providing a desired magnitude of clamp load on the workpieces, the collar, when swaged, having collar grooves and collar shoulders that interlock with the pin grooves and the pin shoulders,

the pin member and the collar having ultimate shear stresses of different magnitudes in order that yielding of the pin member is substantially avoided upon swaging the collar thereto,

wherein the pull portion of the pin member has a length that is less than the length of the locking portion of the pin member in order that a protrusion length of the pull portion from the second end of the pin member is relatively short, and wherein the pull portion is adapted to remain on the second end of the pin member after the installation of the fastener.

10. The fastener of claim 9 , wherein all of the pull grooves of the pull portion of the pin member have substantially the same diameter.

11. A fastener, comprising:

a pin member having an elongated pin shank adapted to be located in aligned openings in a plurality of workpieces and terminating at a first end in a head which engages a surface on one side of the workpieces and at a second end in a grooved portion which extends past an opposite surface on an opposite side of the workpieces, the grooved portion comprising a locking portion having a plurality of lock grooves defined by circumferentially extending pin grooves and associated pin shoulders terminating in pin crests, the locking portion of the pin member having a outer diameter; and

a collar including a generally straight collar shank adapted to be swaged into the lock grooves of the pin member in response to a swage load applied between the pin member and the collar, thereby providing a desired magnitude of clamp load on the workpieces, the collar, when swaged, having collar grooves and collar shoulders that interlock with the pin grooves and the pin shoulders,

wherein the pin member and the collar have ultimate shear stresses of different magnitudes in order that yielding of the pin member is substantially avoided upon swaging the collar thereto,

wherein the lock grooves of the pin member comprise a thread form defined by a number of radii for each of the pin grooves, the pin shoulders, and the pin crests of the lock grooves, the radii being blended in order to have a substantially smooth transition between the radii and thereby promote the complimentary interlocking engagement of the collar grooves with the lock grooves when the collar is swaged and to reduce the swage load required to swage the collar,

and wherein each of the lock grooves has a pitch length and a depth, and wherein the ratio of the pitch length to the depth is between about 2.5 to 4.

12. The fastener of claim 11 , wherein the crests of each pin groove include a first crest and a second crest; wherein the distance between the first and second crests defines the pitch of the lock grooves; wherein the radii includes first, second, third and fourth radii; and wherein the second radius and the third radius define the bottom portion of the pin groove, the first, second, third, and fourth radii being blended to provide the substantially smooth transition therebetween.

13. The fastener of claim 12 wherein the thread form defined by the blended radii is selected from the group consisting of an annular thread form, and a helical thread form, and a wave thread form.

14. The fastener of claim 11 , wherein the ratio of the shear strength between the pin member and the collar is between about 1.5 to 2.1.

15. A fastener, comprising:

a pin member having an elongated pin shank adapted to be located in aligned openings in a plurality of workpieces, the pin member terminating at one end in a head that is adapted to engage a surface on one side of the workpieces and at its opposite end in a grooved portion that is adapted to extend past an opposite surface on an opposite side of the workpieces, the grooved portion including a locking portion having a plurality of lock grooves defined by circumferentially extending pin grooves and associated pin shoulders terminating in pin crests; and

an as-headed collar including a generally straight collar shank that is adapted to be swaged into the lock grooves of the pin member in response to a swage load applied between the pin member and the as-headed collar, thereby providing a desired magnitude of clamp load on the workpieces, the as-headed collar, when swaged, having collar grooves and collar shoulders that interlock with the pin grooves and the pin shoulders,

wherein the pin member and the as-headed collar include ultimate shear stresses of different magnitudes in order that yielding of the pin member is substantially avoided upon swaging the collar to the pin member,

wherein the as-headed collar does not require thermal processing, and the collar shank of the as-headed collar has a wall thickness which is relatively thin, thereby reducing the swage load required to swage the as-headed collar,

and wherein the hardness of the as-headed collar is between about 85 Rb to 95 Rb.

16. A fastener, comprising:

a pin member having an elongated pin shank adapted to be located in aligned openings in a plurality of workpieces, the pin member terminating at one end in a head adapted to engage a surface on one side of the workpieces and at its opposite end in a grooved portion adapted to extend past an opposite surface on an opposite side of the workpieces, the grooved portion comprising a locking portion having a plurality of lock grooves defined by circumferentially extending pin grooves and associated pin shoulders terminating in pin crests;

a substantially straight pull portion extending from the opposite end of the pin member and including a plurality of pull grooves; and

an as-headed collar including a generally straight collar shank adapted to be swaged into the lock grooves on the pin member in response to a swage load applied between the pin member and the as-headed collar, thereby providing a desired magnitude of clamp load on the workpieces, the as-headed collar, when swaged, having collar grooves and collar shoulders that interlock with the pin grooves and the pin shoulders,

the pin member and the as-headed collar having ultimate shear stresses of different magnitudes in order that yielding of the pin member is substantially avoided upon swaging the collar to the pin member,

wherein an end of the pull portion is not rolled down to a diameter position in line with a base of the pull grooves of the pull portion thereby to increase the shear strength of an end pull crest of the pull portion,

and wherein the as-headed collar does not require thermal processing, and the generally straight collar shank of the as-headed collar has a wall thickness which is relatively thin thereby reducing the swage load required to the as-headed collar.