How does one make sure things stay together in flight? NASA has given this some thought. From their intro to NASA Reference Publication 1228 (1990) Fastener Design Manual by Richard Barrett:
To the casual observer the selection of bolts, nuts, and rivets for a design should be a simple task. In reality it is a difficult task, requiring careful consideration of temperature, corrosion, vibration, fatigue, initial preload, and many other factors. The intent of this manual is to present enough data on bolt and rivet materials, finishes, torques, and thread lubricants to enable a designer to make a sensible selection for a particular design. Locknuts, washers, locking methods, inserts, rivets, and tapped holes are also covered.
The manual was written for design engineers to enable them to choose appropriate fasteners for their designs. Subject matter includes fastener material selection, platings, lubricants, corrosion, locking methods, washers, inserts, thread types and classes, fatigue loading, and fastener torque. A section on design criteria covers the derivation of torque formulas, loads
on a fastener group, combining simultaneous shear and tension loads, pullout load for tapped holes, grip length, head styles,
and fastener strengths. The second half of this manual presents general guidelines and selection criteria for rivets and
lockbolts.
With more makers building projects that need commercial (or even aerospace rated) fastening, this is a good read to garner lessons learned and best practices in fastener selection. You can’t win a DARPA competition when your autonomous lawn mower blade bolt has sheared off at the start or your cubesat shears apart due to the cold compromising the fasteners.
See the manual on the NASA.gov site here.
