Which Grades of Chain Should I Choose?

There are many types of chains in the rigging industry, in this article we will explain what and how to choose the welded chain for your rigging applications.

What is chain Grade?

You may heard “Grade 80 Alloy chain,” “Grade 70 chain”, “Grade 43 chain” or “Grade 30 chain” but don’t know what they meaning. It’s important to know the Grades of chain, for each Grade of chain is in several different strengths, and different applications, you can easily know which is better, for the higher numbers the grade is, generally there are six Grades of Chain and into three main steel materials: Grade 80 chain, Grade 100 chain, and Grade 120 chain for overhead lifting uses, Grade 70 chain for load securement and tie down applications, and Grade 43 chain and grade 30 chain for flatbed trucking industry .

Grade 100 chain, and Grade 120 overhead lifting chain

They are both made of high strength, heat treated alloy chain.
but the Grade 120 chain is a high-performance alloy chain, with square links, as opposed to the Grade 100 chain rounded links. We don’t sell these chain grades on our website, you can always send us an email to order them.

Grade 80 alloy chain

In the majority of cases, either Grade 80 or Grade 100 chain can be used for a lifting application. However, there are some situations in which Grade 80 is the better choice.
Grade 80 chain is made of heat-treated alloy steel, in some situations the Grade 80 chain is the better choice than Grade 100 chain for it has a high strength to weight ratio.
You can easily identify Grade 80 chains for they are embossed with G8, or 80 marks, they can be used for overhead lifting and chain slings, Hilifting can supply EN818-2, EN818-4, and ASTM or NACM Grade 80 alloy chain, please click here for more details.

Grade 70 Transport Chain

Grade 70 transport chain is a binder chain for load securement, towing, logging and tie down applications. It is easy to identify for the golden chromate finish and embossed G7, or 70 marks.
It is not approved for overhead lifting, although it is manufactured by heat-treated making them high strength, the galvanization degrade its grade. If you need more details, please click here.

Grade 43 High Test Chain and Grade 30 Proof Coil Chain

They are both made with low carbon steel but Grade 43 high test chain has a higher strength-to-weight ratio than Grade 30 proof coil chain, both of them are used in the bundling, logging, trucking, and tie down applications, but are not approved for overhead lifting.

To sum it up, the alloy steel chain Grade 80, 100, 120 are designed for overhead lifting, not for bundling, logging applications, while carbon steel Grade 70, 43, 30 chain are for load securement, tie downs, and bundling applications, not for overhead lifting purposes.

We hope that this article will help you to know which Grade chain you should choose, please contact us or leave your comment below and if you are interested in learning more about chains knowledge.