Fasteners
“A fastener is a hardware device that mechanically joins or affixes two or more objects together. Fasteners can also be used to close a container such as a bag, a box, or an envelope; or they may involve keeping together the sides of an opening of flexible material, attaching a lid to a container, etc. There are also special-purpose closing devices, e.g. a bread clip. Fasteners used in these manners are often temporary, in that they may be fastened and unfastened repeatedly.”
(Wikipedia, Fasteners, 12/17/2010)
Recent Journal Articles
10/29/2010
Mechanical behavior of recycled reinforced polyamide railway fasteners
(1142–1149)Polymer Composites 31 #7 (2010)
Casado et al of University of Cantabria, Spain showed that using mechanical recycling of short-fiber glass reinforced polyamide railway fasteners is limited in-service by working conditions that increase the thermoplastic material temperature above its critical glass transition temperature. (RDC 12/16.2010)