Withdrawal Strength and Bending Yield Strength of Stainless Steel Nails

Abstract

It has been well established that stainless steel nails have superior corrosion performance compared to carbon steel or galvanized nails in treated wood; however, their mechanical fastening behavior is unknown. In this paper, the performance of stainless steel nails is examined with respect to two important properties used in wood connection design: withdrawal strength and nail bending yield strength. Different nail diameters, wood specific gravities, and nail manufacturers were examined. The current withdrawal design equations, developed from carbon steel nail data, overpredict the expected withdrawal strength when used for stainless steel nails, reducing the safety factor. As a result, a new equation was developed to predict the nail stainless steel withdrawal capacity. The data further indicate that nail bending yield strength values for stainless steel were similar to carbon steel data.