Pennsylvania-based Penn-Engineering has launched a range of stainless steel self-clinching fasteners, PEM Type TS04, which are suitable for stacking or spacing components to ultra-thin stainless steel panels.
The hardened stainless steel fasteners install reliably and permanently into stainless steel sheets as thin as 0.63mm. A single mating screw is required for final component attachment. In a press release from the company it is detailed that the fasteners, “enable lighter designs by reducing hardware count and offer the added benefit of excellent corrosion resistance for an assembly. PEM Type TSO4 standoffs are manufactured from heat-treated 400 series stainless steel for use in stainless sheets. With the fasteners harder than the host stainless sheet, successful clinching results in their becoming integral parts of an assembly without risk of loosening hardware.”
The fasteners are available in several different styles, including thru-threaded or blind-threaded versions, and in various lengths with thread sizes from 2-56 through to 6-32 and M2.5 through M3.5. The PEM Type TSO4’s thread design at the barrel end enhances the length of the required mating screw and thread-type variations can be specified, creating over- sized fastener bodies to achieve increased bearing surface, wall thickness and performance.