Solutions for short anchor bolts:

1) Weld some mild steel keepers that hold the first nut from turning.

2) Add a coupler:
a) Hex Coupling Nuts Hex couplers are used to connect two pieces of threaded material. Hex and heavy hex couplers are threaded right hand. Note: Coupling Nuts are 3-4 diameters long so might not have enough room to get them in.

If a right hand-left hand coupler is needed, consider using a sleeve nut. b) Sleeve Nuts Sleeve nuts are similar to coupling nuts in that they are designed to connect two like-diameter fasteners. They are often used in place of turnbuckles and in combination with high strength tie rods.. They can also be ordered with right hand threads on each end. Sleeve nuts differ from coupling nuts because they are longer

3) Weld an extension on to the bolts if the material is weldable and quality of the production joints may be demonstrated. When NDE (volumetric method -UT, RT & surface method-MPI) is required, the
process, extent, techniques and standards of acceptance must be clearly defined and accepted.

Notes: If the bolts are hot deep galvanized, the welding area and adjacent area of the anchor bolt coating shall be damaged and may create a corrosion concern.
When welding on materials with heavy galvanized coatings, particularly for hot-dipped parts, the zinc may enter into the liquid weld metal and lead to segregation cracking.

In August of 2007, ASTM A307 grade C was replaced by F1554 grade 36. ASTM A307 covers low carbon steel bolts and currently consists of grades A and B. Grade A covers bolts for general applications, while grade B covers heavy hex bolts and studs for cast iron flange connections. Until it was eliminated, A307 grade C covered unheaded, bent anchor bolts or straight rods. F1554 grade 36 has replaced A307 grade C and covers mild steel anchor bolts of any configuration including headed bolts. http://www.aisc.org/WorkArea/showcontent.aspx?id=2774

http://www.aisc.org/DynamicQuestion.aspx?Grpid=6&QueId=1828&ste=_Preview&id=2100&type=0
7.1.5. How can short anchor rods be extended above base plates when the nut threads will not be fully engaged? There are two common methods to extend misplaced anchor rods that are too short to fully engage the nut threads. With either method, it may be necessary to enlarge the base-plate holes, which can be done by flame-cutting. In the first method, a thin-walled threaded coupler with adequate strength for the application is used to attach a threaded extension. It may be necessary to remove concrete near the top of the foundation to permit the installation of the coupler. In the second method, a threaded extension is welded to the top of the existing rod. The threaded extension is prepared for welding by beveling the contact end to a chisel point as illustrated in Figure 7.1.5-1 and is subsequently welded using suitable electrode material. The surface of this welded transition is typically non-uniform and may necessitate the use of plate washers of sufficient quantity to allow free rotation of the nut. This method, which requires welding, may be unsuitable for heat-treated anchor rod material, such as ASTM A449 or ATSM F1554 GR 105. Note that plug-welding the partially engaged nut to the anchor rod is not considered to be an effective means of attachment.

last modified 30 August 2002

7.1.2. To what material specifications are anchor rods ordered? There are three basic alternatives:

1. ASTM F1554 covers anchor rods in headed, threaded and nutted, and hooked configurations with three yield-strength levels: 36, 55, and 105 ksi. It is intended that this umbrella specification cover the full range of material needs for anchor rods, including galvanized applications. 2. Headed anchor rods can also be obtained in ASTM A449 and A354 material. 3. Threaded and nutted or hooked rods can be obtained to meet the following material specifications: ASTM A36, A572, A449, A354, A588, and A687. 4. ASTM A193, Grade B7 is acceptable for 105 KSI.
last modified 1 January 2006

7.1.6. Can anchor rods be welded to a base plate? Yes, if the rod material is weldable. Anchor rods are used primarily to provide a pre-positioned location upon which to erect the column and to provide stability during erection. They are also used in conjunction with the dead load of the structure to resist uplift forces. Subsequent welding of anchor rods to the base plate will not serve the first two purposes, but can be helpful in providing uplift resistance. Because the base-plate holes are oversized and the anchor rod is rarely centered in the hole, a heavy plate washer is required as illustrated in Figure 7.1.6-1(a); see also 7.2.4. The welding of rod to washer involves a fillet weld profile with a weld length that is equal to times the rod diameter, which develops relatively little strength. Welding to the threaded portion of a rod is permissible. If larger uplift forces are present, an alternative column base detail, such as the boot in Figure 7.1.6-1(b) should be considered.

last modified 1 January 2006

You can weld some mild steel keepers that hold the nut from turning,--------------------------------------------------- then you don't have to weld/extend the bolt length at all, but it will perform the same function.
It depends on the grade. F1554 grade 36 is mild steel and is weldable. Grade 55 is a modified mild steel and is weldable, provided it meets the weldability requirements as described in Supplementary Requirement S1 of the F1554 specification. Grade 55 material that does not meet the S1 carbon equivalency parameters is not weldable. Grade 105 is not weldable since the heat generated during welding could alter the mechanical properties of the medium carbon alloy quenched and tempered material

All three grades of F1554 (grade 36, 55, and 105) can be galvanized. Both hot-dip galvanizing per ASTM F2329 and mechanical galvanizing per ASTM B695, class 50 are acceptable. Portland Bolt operates an in-house, state-of-the-art hot dip galvanizing line designed specifically for threaded fasteners.

F1554 Grade 36
Overview
ASTM F1554 grade 36 anchor bolts are manufactured from A36, low carbon steel. This is your standard, run-of-the-mill bolt grade covering anchor bolts in diameters ranging from 1/4" through 4". In August of 2007, F1554 grade 36 replaced ASTM A307 grade C which also covered mild steel anchor bolts.

Galvanizing
F1554 grade 36 anchor bolts can be supplied plain black, mechanically galvanized, or hot-dip galvanized.

Welding
F1554 grade 36 anchor bolts are weldable. Common anchor bolt configurations include a rod that is threaded on both ends with a nut and/or anchor plate welded to the embedded end of the anchor bolt. Headed anchor bolts can also have an anchor plate welded to the head of the bolt if the head itself does not provide enough pull-out resistance.

Material Substitution
When grade 36 is specified, a weldable grade 55 may be furnished at the supplier's option.

Mechanical Requirements
Grade Identification Size, Inches Tensile, ksi Yield, ksi min Yield, MPa min Elong. % min Reduction of Area %, min

36

1/4 - 4

58 - 80

36

248

23

40

Color coding (blue) is required while permanent stamping with manufacturer's identification and grade designation are supplementary requirements.

Nuts and Washers

Recommended A563 Nut

Grade

Identification

Size, Inches

Plain Finish

Hot-Dip or Mechanical Zinc Coated Washer

Grade

Style

Grade

Style

36

1/4 - 1-1/2

Hex

Hex

F436

Recommended A563 Nut

Grade

Identification

Size, Inches

Plain Finish

Hot-Dip or Mechanical Zinc Coated Washer

Grade

Style

Grade

Style

1-5/8 - 4

Heavy Hex

Heavy Hex

For additional compatible nuts see the Nut Compatibility Chart.

Welding High Strength Bolts

Question: Can welding be performed on high strength anchor bolts and fasteners?

Answer: The short answer is that in most cases, welding is not allowed on high strength bolts. In the fastener industry, the term high strength typically refers to any medium carbon or alloy material which undergoes a heat treating process to develop the strength properties necessary to meet the requirements of a given specification. These ASTM specifications include A449, A325, A193 grade B7, F1554 grade 105, A354 grades BC and BD, and A490 among others. When heat is reapplied to a bolt that has been heat treated, it is probable that the physical properties (strength) of the bolt may be altered. When heat is applied in an uncontrolled environment, it is impossible to determine what effect this application of heat has had on the fastener. Therefore, welding to high strength bolts is not recommended.

Two references occur to back up this statement. On page 4-4 of the Ninth Edition of the AISC Manual (American Institute of Steel Construction), the following statement occurs: Anchor bolt material that is quenched and tempered (heat treated) should not be welded or heated.

The other reference prohibiting the heating of high strength bolts (which would occur during welding) can be found in the ASTM F1554 specification. Section 6.4.3 of the ASTM F1554 specification states: Hot bending performed on heat-treated bar stock shall not have the temperature come within 100F (56C) of the tempering (stress relieve) temperature of the heat-treat process at any location during hot bending and shall be allowed to air cool after bending.

Although this statement refers to hot bending, it implies that any process (including welding) that applies heat approaching or exceeding the tempering temperature to a high strength bolt may potentially alter the mechanical properties of the fastener and should therefore be avoided.

The issue of reheating high strength bolts when welding can be avoided by performing the welding operation prior to the fastener undergoing the heat treating process. In other words a plate, nut, or other component can be welded to a bolt prior to the fastener being heat treated. However, this must be performed by a fastener manufacturer and eliminates the ability for high strength bolts to be welded in the field or by another company once the bolts have been tested and certified to meet a particular ASTM specification.

Posted by Greg Lindsay

Phone: (800) 599-0565 Email: greg@portlandbolt.com View other posts by Greg Lindsay

Posted on Friday, November 4th, 2011 by Greg Lindsay. Filed under anchor bolts. Comments may be followed using the RSS 2.0 feed.

The below content is submitted by readers and has not been researched or checked for accuracy. It is not endorsed in any way by Portland Bolt.

10 Responses to Welding High Strength Bolts

1.

Procyon Systems Inc Calgary says: Dane McKinnon says Hello Dane, My Designers quoted AISC 9th Edition page 588 where it is noted Heat treated and Quenched bolts should not be heated or welded. We are Designers in between Client and Engineers. Client sides, ..ah but cannot proceed.. Engineer who stamps cannot approve. Please note that these are bolts used for LIFT LUGS of a skid which weighs more than 200 tons. 10 lifting lugs and 40 bolts. Thanks Siva

June 15, 2012 at 3:03 pm

2.

Dane McKinnon says: @Procyon Systems Common? Perhaps. Prohibited? Likely. Every application will have its own reasons for or against this procedure. If the fastener is being used in such a way that its being compromised does not adversely affect its function, then the engineer may decide that it is acceptable in that specific case. Generally speaking however, the AISC does not condone welding to high strength, heat treated materials. As always, the project engineer should be consulted.

May 31, 2012 at 8:34 am

3.

Procyon Systems Inc Calgary says: Hi, It is is said that it is common practice (In western Canada) to weld high strength lifting lug bolts (probably A325) 1. two tack welds on the bottom 2. seal weld where it comes out of the beam or plate. and flush grind this is because the skid under side is sprayed insulation foam. they want the bolts located and retained before the spray. two they want the seal weld to prevent leakage from skid floor. Is it common? Is it prohibited? Thanks Designer

May 29, 2012 at 2:25 pm

4.

Troy C. says: Can you tell me if an A615 Grade 75 threaded anchor bolt can be heated and straightened without reducing the strength. We have several bars that are roughly 8 long which are bent about 1/2 out of straight over the last 1-6 foot of length.

October 22, 2008 at 12:12 pm

5.

Adam Oakley says: @Ted Welti: High strength nuts used with A325 bolts are heat treated and should not be taken past their tempering temperature (i.e. welding), since this can change the mechanical properties. Although, we often see engineers designs that include high strength nuts welded to plates. The main concern is that it is impossible to know, without testing, what effect the welding will have on the nuts strength. Many believe that a few tack welds will not significantly alter the strength of the nut. We have no engineers on staff and dont make any recommendations about this method.

October 8, 2008 at 4:04 pm

6.

Ted Welti says: Is it allowed to weld a nut to the back side of a steel plate for a slip-critical ASTM A325 bolt connection? There would be no welding done to the bolt itself, just the nut. The nut would be centered over a hole in the steel plate and welded to the plate in the shop. This is so in the field the bolt could be installed without access to the backside to hold the nut from spinning when the bolt was tightened. This is for attaching a brick shelf angle to the outside of a cold-formed steel wall that will be sheathed in the shop before being tilted into place in the field.

October 8, 2008 at 9:04 am

7.

Adam Oakley says: @Soo: A307 grade C is usually made from A36 steel which is weldable. Dont forget that ASTM has removed grade C from A307 and replaced it with F1554 grade 36.

July 8, 2008 at 8:09 am

8.

Soo says: what about ASTM A307 grade C..? is it possible to re-use anchor bolts after welding?

July 8, 2008 at 12:15 am

9.

Adam Oakley says: @Ben Valdez: Any quenched and tempered bolt that has a minimum tensile strength lower than 150ksi can be galvanized. There is no problem galvanizing A193 B7. However, any quenched and tempered fastener (A193 grade B7 included) that develops its strength properties through a heat treating process should not be welded. If you need to weld to the fastener, the highest strength bolt available would be F1554 grade 55.

April 23, 2008 at 8:33 am

10. Ben Valdez says: I am looking for bolts that are close to ASTM A193 B7 that are weldable and can be galvanized.

April 22, 2008 at 1:22 pm

I have anchor bolts that were installed without enough bolt to the clear the top of the base plate. I speced A36 anchor bolts, but A307 were installed. The contractor wants to weld the base plate to the anchor bolts, but I don't know if A307 bolts can be welded to the base plate. Since the structure is already built, a coupling nut will not be easy to install. Thanks. twinnell (Structural) 11 Dec 07 12:37

A307 bolts are weldable. Don't know about welding the rod to the base plate though. I want to say that AISC does not recommend it. They would prefer a rod extension be full pen welded to the short bolt. What about a T bolt. Essentially a coupling nut with a plate on top. structuralaggie (Structural) 11 Dec 07 12:52

This would require them to take the column down, right? The structure is done, so taking down the column to install anything is not going to be a popular answer. I don't think welding is a good idea either. structuresguy (Structural) In these cases, I do one of three things: 1. If the anchor rod projects less than 1/2" above the base plate, full pen weld an extension onto the short anchor rod. 2. Otherwise, have them fab a 1/4" thick plate with a 1/16" oversize hole centered. Then they can place this over the rod, and fillet weld the rod to this new plate. Then they fillet weld the new plate to the base plate. This works well with the oversize holes used in the base plates, as directly welding the rod to the base plate is basically nearly impossible. Of course, you would need to check plate stresses in this case. Also, if you have significant shear loads transfering through the anchor rods, this might not be good, as the weld would be sharing loads with the bolted rods. 3. If the rod is below the top of the base plate, such that they can not full pen weld, then the last option is to drill a new hole through the base plate and epoxy dowel new anchor rod into the foundation. Size of rod might need to be adjusted based on allowable strength of the epoxy connection. Hope this helps some. Andrew structuralaggie (Structural) It sounds like in 2 you are saying to weld the A307 bolt to A36 steel. Is this ok? csd72 (Structural) 11 Dec 07 14:18 11 Dec 07 13:17 11 Dec 07 13:12

http://aisc.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Learning_Opportunities/eLearning/Course_Details/Field_Fixe s.htm Part 1 covers anchor bolt fixes Bagman2524 (Structural) I believe A307 is the same steel (i.e. same chemcical coposition as A36), so welding the two should be ok. VoyageofDiscovery (Structural) 11 Dec 07 18:29 11 Dec 07 15:31

Will these anchor bolts be subjected to tension or cyclic tension loading? If so welding this anchor bolt is not a good idea. This same situation occurred on one of my projects and it was agreed to replace the anchor bolts by coring them out and reinstalling the anchors

Substitution of F1554 Grade 55 for A307 Grade C

Question: My plans call for an A307 grade C anchor bolt and my supplier is offering F1554 grade 55 anchor bolts as a substitution. Is this acceptable?

Answer: Theoretically, this substitution makes sense. However, one should always check with the project engineer before making any alterations to the grade or configuration of product that has been specified for the structure. Please note that for liability reasons, Portland Bolt is not recommending that this substitution be made without appropriate approval.

The A307 grade A and B specifications cover mild steel rods, bent bolts, headed bolts, and flange connection bolts. The A307 Grade C anchor bolt specification, which covered unheaded anchor bolts, was eliminated in August of 2007 and replaced with the F1554 grade 36 anchor bolt specification.

The F1554 grade 36 specification is a more complete specification covering mild steel headed anchor bolts, bent anchor bolts, and straight rods in addition to two other grades of anchor bolts, grade 55 and grade 105. Section 4 of the F1554 specification has a note stating, When grade 36 is specified, a weldable grade 55 may be furnished at the suppliers option. As long as the F1554 grade 55 anchor bolt being supplied in lieu of the A307 grade C anchor bolts is weldable, this is a correct substitution per the ASTM F1554 and A307 specifications.

Theoretically, F1554 grade 36 anchor bolts should be substituted for the obsolete A307 grade C specification and F1554 grade 55 can be substituted for grade 36 at the suppliers option, as shown below: A307 grade C F1554 grade 36 F1554 grade 55

The following chart shows correct and incorrect substitutions.

A307 Grade C can be substituted for F1554 Grade 36 can be substituted for F1554 Grade 55 can be substituted for
Notes:

A 307 Grade C N/A Yes Yes

F1554 Grade 36 No N/A Yes

F1554 Grade 55 No No N/A

A307 grade C cannot be substituted for F1554 grade 36 or grade 55 since it is an obsolete specification and F1554 requires additional testing that typically is not performed on A307 anchor bolts.

F1554 grade 36 cannot be substituted for F1554 grade 55 since it does not meet the mechanical requirements of the grade 55 version of this specification.