Tensile Strength of a Grade 5 Bolt

Sut,Gr.5=827,000,000 PaS_{ut,\mathrm{Gr.5}} = 827,000,000\ \text{Pa}
Value827,000,000 Pa
StatusConventional / typical value
SourceSAE J429 / Machinery's Handbook, 31st ed.
CategoriesMaterial PropertiesEngineering & Trademechanics
S_ut(Gr5) in every pressure unit
pascal827,000,000 Pa
kilopascal827,000 kPa
megapascal827 MPa
bar8,270 bar
atmosphere8,161.8554 atm
millimeter of mercury6,203,009.2 mmHg
pound per square inch119,946.21 psi
foot of water column276,674.97 ft H₂O
gigapascal0.827 GPa
kip per square inch119.94621 ksi
inch of mercury244,212.96 inHg
inch of water column3,320,099.7 in w.g.

Learning zone

SAE Grade 5 — the three-radial-line head marking, medium carbon steel quenched and tempered — is the common automotive and machinery fastener: 120 ksi minimum tensile, 92 ksi yield, 85 ksi proof. Proof strength is the number that matters for preload, because it is the stress the bolt can carry with no measurable permanent set; standard practice targets 75 % of proof for reusable joints and up to 90 % for single-use.

Note that all of these are stresses, and the area they act on is the tensile stress area, not the shank area — a 1/2-13 bolt has 0.1419 in² of stress area against 0.196 in² of shank, so using the nominal diameter overstates capacity by nearly 40 %. Above 1 in diameter Grade 5 drops to 105 ksi tensile, and metric property class 8.8 is the near equivalent (800 MPa tensile, 640 MPa yield). Structural steelwork uses a different family entirely — ASTM F3125 Grade A325 and A490 — and the grades are not interchangeable with SAE fasteners.