Water tightness in fastening is crucial and essential in various applications, such as pools, water sports equipment, industrial products as well as in the electric vehicle industry. Through a rigorous testing process, KVT-Fastening, part of Bossard Group, ensures the reliability of water tightness with PEM fasteners.
Water tightness has become a significant performance characteristic and although there are international standards for the water tightness test of the fastening joints, many tests are hard to be integrated into the production process and lack consistency in accurate and repeatable results.
One customer, a manufacturer of the heater boilers, had to achieve the water tightness of PEM fasteners used in their products. To overcome the testing challenges, PennEngineering collaborated with the PROFIL® Europe team, also a PennEngineering company, to design and implement new leak testing technology. The test can be performed quickly and allows precise and statistical analysis. More importantly, the test can be easily integrated into serial production and existing quality management systems.
The test is performed using the vacuum leak testing method, which utilises helium as a test gas to verify water tightness for PROFIL® Mechanically Attached Fasteners (MAF). The method can measure leak rates and be correlated to an IP rating. Using helium as test gas can verify a leak-proof fastening joint used in different panel thicknesses and a wide range of materials, including aluminium and steel. Compared to conventional water tightness tests, vacuum leak testing offers greater flexibility to the size and dimensions of the tested object.
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