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The Construction of Rivets
The name “POP® rivet” is often used as a generic name for blind fasteners. However, even though all POP® rivets are blind, not all blind rivets are POP® brand rivets.
Rivets are constructed with two parts: a tubular rivet and a mandrel. The mandrel consists of a thin tail and a ball-shaped head, which fits through the rivet body. Once the rivet has been set (see the section, How to Install a Blind Rivet), the mandrel tail breaks off, leaving the mandrel ball head inside the rivet.
Today, rivets are used to replace traditional nut and bolt or welding applications because rivets improve speed and efficiency for nearly all assembly processes.
Blind rivets are extremely popular because they are fast and easy to use, and work well for joining many different types of materials. In addition to general industry and electronics, blind rivets are used extensively in the following industries:
Agriculture—operating, manufacturing, repairing, or maintenance of agricultural equipment
Solar/Green Energy—the manufacturing, installation, service, or repair of alternate energy equipment including solar, wind, and water
Truck & Transport—trucks, buses, and fleet service and maintenance, aftermarket service, or custom modifications
Rail/Railcar or Mining—rail or mining equipment manufacturing, service, and repair or maintenance of tracks and cars
Lighting-Residential and commercial light fixtures, assemblies, and controls
The rivet head style determines the look of the installed rivet as it faces the viewer. In applications where the head of the rivet will be visible (such as in aircraft), consistency in appearance is important.
The rivet body material should be the same or similar to the material(s) of the two components to be joined, in order to prevent failure or corrosion. Blind rivets are made from a variety of materials including an assortment of alloys, nylon, and thermoplastic. The rivet body material and mandrel material may be the same or different. Various versions of rivets include those with painted, metal-plated, and protective surface finishes.
The size of the hole determines rivet diameter, which must be neither too small, making it harder to place the rivet, or too large, leaving a gap that could increase shear stress on the rivet or cause installation problems. A hole that is too large might also allow the blind head to expand in the space between the two workpieces. Another consideration is whether the holes will be pre-drilled separately, making it more difficult to match up the hole size and spacing in the two parts of the joint.
The grip range of a joint is the thickness of the two parts combined. Rivets are available in varying grip ranges, with longer range required for joining thicker materials.
Some applications require a joint to be watertight or non-permeable for gases up to a certain pressure. Examples include pipes, appliances, and refrigerated trailers.
Applications subject to water, salt spray, or corrosive cleaning chemicals may require a rivet material that won’t corrode in the presence of the joint material(s). To prevent galvanic corrosion between two dissimilar metals, choose less corrosive combinations or add a protective barrier or finish.
Tensile strength applies to the maximum tension that the rivet can withstand along its length. Shear strength is the maximum force the rivet can withstand as the two parts of the joint tend to slide apart. Heavy- duty applications, such as agricultural “equipment, require much greater shear and tensile strength.
Open end rivets are the standard, 
Multi-grip rivets are designed for use in applications with varying grip ranges (e.g., different material thicknesses), or where surfaces are curved or holes are 
In 
Pull-Thru (PT) rivets are used in applications where no head projection is allowed on either side of the joint. These rivets are widely used in the electronics industry, where space is at a premium and where there can be no chance a mandrel ball will drop into the assembly components. Additionally, there is no sharp protrusion on both sides of the workpiece which could damage wiring and other sensitive components.
Tri-fold, or bulbing, rivets are made with a slotted rivet body that is designed to split into three folded sections as the mandrel head is pulled through and clamped. The result is a blind rivet with a large, “three- winged” bearing head that provides more support to the back of the joint. Tri-fold rivets are especially useful in fastening soft or brittle materials, such as plastic or composites. They are available in both structural and non-structural versions to accommodate a variety of application strength requirements.
Similar to the bulbing rivet, peel rivets have aluminum split shafts that allow the body to separate into three or four “peeled back” sections, or legs, on the blind side as the rivet is set. The legs provide a much larger surface area to spread the load, so this type of rivet is especially good for joining soft material such as plastic, wood, or insulation. They are also popular for automotive component assembly applications.
For structural applications where 
Some applications for assembling thick or soft materials, such as playground equipment, street signs, and furniture, require extra-long grip ranges. A mate rivet is a two-piece fastener that requires access to the back of the workpiece. A male rivet is inserted through the front face of the two materials, while a female, tubular rivet with a pre-formed head is inserted from the back side and over the male rivet. The male rivet is then 
For faster assembly times, automated rapid blind riveting (speed-fastening) systems allow dozens of rivets to be loaded into the rivet tool at once, delivering feed rates of up to 60 rivets per minute. These rivets are hollow, with no internal mandrel. Instead, they rely on a “reusable” mandrel built into the tool, which saves on the expense and hassle of dealing with the broken mandrel stems.
