Thread Standards and Definitions

United States, Canada, and United Kingdom use the Unified of Unified Inch profile, in
accordance with the Unified and American Screw Threads – ASA B1.1-1989.

UNC – Unified National Coarse

Two major Unified thread series are in use: UN and UNR. For the UN series, you specify C
(coarse), F (fine), or EF (extra fine), as required. For the UNR series, the root radius must also be
specified. The UNR series screws are better for fatigue because the root radius reduces stress
concentrations. The basic thread geometry for ISO and Unified threads is shown below.

Unified and ISO Thread Geometry

60o
30o

Major diameter
p/4 Mean (pitch)
Root (minor) (d c or d )
diameter ( d r) diameter ( dmor dp )
Axis of Thread

Pitch (p) – The distance between adjacent thread forms measured parallel to the thread axis.
Lead (L) – The distance the nut moves parallel to the screw axis when the nut is given one turn
TPI (n) – The number of Threads Per Inch, related to the pitch by p  1/ n .
Root (minor) Diameter – Smallest diameter of screw - dr .
Major Diameter – Largest diameter of screw - dc (sometimes designated as d).
Mean (pitch) Diameter – Average diameter of screw - dm (sometimes designated as dp ).
Lead Angle (  ) – The angle defining the inclination of the thread (see figure below).
Helix Angle ( ) – The angle between the thread axis and the lead angle (    90o ).
 Lead, Helix, and Pitch for single thread Lead and Pitch for doublethread
L p L  2p

 p
p  L

Thread Classifications
There are three classes of thread fit: Loose (where the joint is frequently disassembled) – Class 1
Standard (general assembly) – Class 2
Close (high accuracy, fine fits) – Class 3
Designations for each class and the type of thread (inside or outside) for Unified and Metric are
given below:
Unified Metric
Class External Thread Internal Thread External Thread Internal Thread
Loose 1A 1B 8g 7h
Standard 2A 2B 6g 6h
Close 3A 3B 4g 5h

Nomenclature

Examples of the nomenclature for specifying a threaded fastener are given below for Unified
National and Metric specifications
Threads per inch
Unified National:
Tolerance specification (class of fit)
Type of thread (A- External, B - Internal)
1
- 12 UNC - 3A LH
2 Hand of thread (L = left, R = right)
Class Classification: UNC - unified national coarse
UNF - unified national fine
Major Diameter UNEF - unified national extra fine
(< 1/4" are numbered, #12 = 0.2160", #0 = 0.060")

Nominal size (diameter)

M 12 x 1.75 , 6g x 85

Metric Length (mm)

Additional Information
The next website provides all the designations and tables of the International Thread Standards:
http://www.gewinde-normen.de/en/index.html