CTS Fasteners & Metals Program History

For those involved with metals and fasteners, including raw material manufacturers, product manufacturers, fastener manufacturers, and independent testing laboratories, quality of measurements has always been critical to final product quality. Previously, many laboratories only used in-house control samples to monitor instrument performance. Although this practice helped maintain consistent measurements, it did not address measurement agreement with outside laboratories. In addition, as the manufacturing process and customer markets became more and more global, the need for better measurement control became more and more essential.

Concurrently, in the late 1980s the Naval Shipyard (NSY) laboratories were working with the American Association of Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) to determine what sort of accreditation was available and appropriate. Naturally the topic of proficiency testing as a requirement of accreditation came up. At that time there were no formal metals testing programs. Some trade associations with very narrow focuses had periodically conducted round robins, but nothing on-going or large-scale. By 1988 CTS reputation as a provider of statistically sound interlaboratory programs was well established. Even though CTS at that time did not have a history of starting up new programs from scratch as it were, that fact did not stop A2LA from recommending CTS to the NSY laboratories. So CTS, working with both groups, developed a program initially called the Metals Collaborative Reference Program for the NSY laboratories and their suppliers. However, all parties recognized from the start that any such program would ultimately require a broader base of participants and that CTS could not limit the materials to metals used in saltwater applications. 

Almost immediately the tests offered and materials used in the program were applicable to a multitude of industries; the number of participating labs grew exponentially. In 1990, in response to pending federal legislation for fasteners, appropriate tests were added to the metals program to accommodate the needs of the fasteners industry. The National Institute of Science and Technology (NIST) and the National Voluntary Laboratory Accreditation Program (NVLAP), as well as A2LA, were instrumental in helping to establish the requirements for fastener testing. 

Today, the CTS Fasteners & Metals Program has a very significant international presence: more than 600 laboratories worldwide currently participate. As the program continues to evolve and expand, accreditation requirements remain the strongest influence on the program. A key differentiator for the Fasteners & Metals program: half of the tests are not destructive labs can keep the samples for their own use and/or re-check if they are flagged. For those labs whose destructive test results are flagged, re-test samples are available. These benefits, combined with the fact that new tests are added periodically as the needs of the industries change, ensure the programs status as the worlds premier fasteners and metals proficiency testing program.

CTS Fasteners & Metal Program Schedule

The Fasteners & Metals Program is an annual program and testing rounds are conducted on a quarterly basis. Subscribers participate in one or two testing cycles depending on the enrollment date and the tests' stated frequency. Enrollment deadlines and frequencies are included with individual test descriptions.
 
Note that data due dates occur approximately 6 weeks after a shipment date and that results must be submitted on or before a data due date in order to be included in the report.
 
Participants can track shipments, submit data and access reports through the CTS Customer Portal.

Enroll by December 1 of preceding year:

Includes Qtrs:	Samples Ship:	Data Due	Report Issued:
1	late February	early April	late April
3	late August	early October	late October

Enroll by March 1 of current year:

Includes Qtrs:	Samples Ship:	Data Due	Report Issued:
2	late May	early July	late July
4	mid November	late December	mid January

Enroll by June 1 of current year:

Includes Qtrs:	Samples Ship:	Data Due	Report Issued:
3	late August	early October	late October

Enroll by July 24 of current year:

Includes Qtrs:	Samples Ship:	Data Due	Report Issued:
4	mid November	late December	mid January

Tests conducted by quarter: Dimensional

Test Series	Test Name	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr
1001	Dimensional: Outside Diameter of Plain Plug Gage	X	-	X	-

Tests conducted by quarter: Impact

Test Series	Test Name	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr
1003	Charpy V-Notch (-30 degrees)	-	X	-	-
1004	Charpy V-Notch (Room Temperature)	-	-	-	X

Tests conducted by quarter: Tensile Properties

Test Series	Test Name	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr
1101	Tensile Properties: Lab-Machined Flat Aluminum	X	-	X	-
1111	Tensile Properties: Pre-Machined Round Steel	X	-	X	-
1121	Tensile Properties: Lab-Machined Round Steel	X	-	X	-
1131	Tensile Properties: Lab-Machined Flat Steel	-	X	-	X

Tests conducted by quarter: Fasteners Testing

Test Series	Test Name	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr
1201	Fastener Wedge Tensile (10 degree)	-	X	-	X
1202	Fastener Axial Tensile	-	X	-	X
1203	Fastener Wedge Tensile (10 degree) - Metric	-	X	-	X
1204	Fastener Axial Tensile - Metric	-	X	-	X
1210	Rockwell Hardness: Externally Threaded Fasteners	-	X	-	X
1211	Vickers Hardness: Externally Threaded Fasteners	-	X	-	X
1220	Fastener Double Shear	-	X	-	X

Tests conducted by quarter: Hardness Testing

Test Series	Test Name	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr
1301	Rockwell Hardness: C & B Scales	-	X	X	-
1302	Rockwell Hardness: B Scale	X	-	X	-
1303	Rockwell Hardness: C Scale	-	X	-	X
1311	Vickers Hardness: 10 kgf	-	X	-	X
1321	Microhardness: Knoop & Vickers	X	-	X	-
1341	Brinell Hardness	X	-	X	-
1351	Rockwell Superficial Hardness (30N Scale)	-	X	-	X

Tests conducted by quarter: Metallography

Test Series	Test Name	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr
1401	Case Depth	-	X	-	X
1411	Grain Size (Stainless Steel)	-	X	-	-
1412	Grain Size (Inconel)	-	-	-	X
1421	Alpha Case Depth	-	X	-	-
1422	Alloy Depletion: Inconel	-	X	-	-

Tests conducted by quarter: Chemical Analysis

Test Series	Test Name	1st Qtr	2nd Qtr	3rd Qtr	4th Qtr
1500	Nickel-based Alloy	-	X	-	-
1520	Titanium-based Alloy	-	-	X	-
1540	Aluminum	-	X	-	X
1600	Carbon & Low Alloy Steel	X	-	X	-
1640	Corrosion Resistant Steel	-	X	-	X
1700	Copper-based Alloy	-	-	-	X

Summary Reports

Portal Links

Participants in CTS Fasteners & Metals Program tests can access Test Instructions on the CTS Customer Portal.

A Guide to Interpreting Performance Analysis Reports, available as well on the CTS Customer Portal, assists participants in understanding and getting maximum benefit from the individual reports issued at the completion of each testing round.