Description

Plain Washers

A plain washer is a thin plate, which is most commonly has a disk-shape with a hole in middle. It is widely used to distribute the load of a threaded fastener. Plain washers are used to provide a larger bearing surface where screws, bolts and nuts come in contact with the bearing surfaces.

The main role of flat washers is to increase the size of a screw’s bearing surface area, and reduce the surface pressure applied on the fastened object.

Looseness can result when the bearing surface sinks under the surface pressure, so using a flat washer to reduce the surface pressure is very effective.

This is especially crucial if the contact area between a screw’s bearing surface and the object being fastened is small when fastening to a slot, for instance, or if the object being fastened is made of soft material such as aluminum or resin.

NOMENCLATURE

d1 Inside diameter

d2 Outside diameter

s Thickness.

Incidentally, since flat washers are basically manufactured by pressing, one side has rounded corners and one side has burrs, as shown in the figure.

There is no fixed rule about which side goes up and which goes down, but given the issue of bearing surface pressure mentioned above, it’s more effective to put the burred side facing down.

However, since the burrs could mark the surface of the fastened object during tightening, it would be better to put the rounded side down if you want to avoid plating peeling.