What Are Anti-Seize Lubricants?

Overview

What are Anti-Seize Lubricants?

Anti-Seize Lubricants are heavy duty, high temperature lubricants that prevent seizing, galling, and corrosion of threaded fasteners during assembly, while assuring easy disassembly. They can be considered lubricants since they can have a grease base and solid lubricants such as graphite, copper and nickel. While there are a few different types, and each can have many uses. You should always research the product to make sure it will not create or increase problems such as corrosion, attracting contaminates that can lead to thread damage, or being used where it shouldn’t. Some manufacturers even state not to use anti-seize on certain items.

As a lubricant, they will change required torque to create the proper clamping force. How much? The reality is that to accurately know, it would take testing in multiple environments with multiple properly calibrated torque wrenches. I have seen numbers in the 20%-30% range be used for the amount to remove from the torque specification to get it correct. Unfortunately, there are too many factors to be 100% accurate, such as thread condition, bolt stretch, torque wrench accuracy, how much anti-seize is enough, how much is too much? This can lead to issues such as over-torquing, excessive bolt stretch, broken fasteners, or parts loosening up on their own.