RIVETS

What are rivets..????

A rivet is a permanent mechanical fastener. Before being installed a rivet consists of a smooth cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. The end opposite the head is called the buck tail.

CLYNDRICAL SHAFT

HEAD

BUCK TAIL

Materials of Rivets..
The materials of the rivets must be tough and ductile. They are usually made of steel, brass, aluminium or copper. When strength and fluid tight joint is the main consideration, then the steel rivets are used.

Indian standards for rivets

1.
2.

General purpose: I S: 1148-1982 for hot rolled rivet bars. I S: 1149-1982 for high tensile steel bars. Bolier purpose: I S: 1990-1973

Rivets are used to join plates together and they have been used for hundreds of years. Before the widespread use of welding, rivets were used in heavy industries such as ship building. The steel plates used to build ships such as the Titanic and the Naval Dreadnaughts of World War I were held together by steel rivets.

Rivets have been largely replaced by techniques such as welding and brazing

However joining plates together with rivets is still a useful technique especially if the plates to be joined are quite small.
There are different kinds of heads in a rivet and the type is selected depending upon the requirement.

SNAP HEAD

MUSHROOM HEAD

COUNTER SUNK

PAN HEAD

Above are two steel plates that have been joined permanently using steel snap head rivets. The plates cannot move a part because the rivets hold them firmly together

On installation the rivet is placed in a punched or a pre drilled hole, and the tail is upset or bucked (i.e. deformed) so that it expands to about 1.5 times the original shaft diameter holding the rivet in place. To distinguish between the two ends of the rivet, the original head is called the factory head and the deformed end is called the head or buck tail.

START OF ROLLED EDGE

BALL PEEN HAMMER

RIVET

Because there is effectively a head on each end of an installed rivet, it can support tension loads (loads parallel to the axis of the shaft) However, it is much more capable of supporting shear loads (loads perpendicular to the axis of the shaft). Bolts and Srews are better suited for tension applications.

Types of rivets.
There are a number of types of rivets. Rivets are selected based on three criterias: Cost Accessibility Strength requirements

There are different types of rivets: Solid rivets Semi tubular rivets Blind rivets Drive rivets Flush rivets
Out of these Solid rivets and Semi tubular rivets are described below.

Solid rivets..
Solid rivets are one of the oldest and most reliable types of fasteners, having been found in archaeological findings dating back to the Bronze Age. Solid rivets consist simply of a shaft and head which are deformed with a hammer or rivet gun. Solid rivets are used in applications where reliability and safety count

A typical application for solid rivets canbe found within the structural parts of aircraft.

Solid rivets are driven using a hyraulically, pneumatically , or electromagnetically driven squeezing tools or even a hand hammer.

Semi tubular rivets

Semi tubular rivets are similar to solid rivets, except they have a partial hole (opposite the head) at the tip. The purpose of this hole is to reduce the amount of force needed for application by rolling the tubular portion outward.

The force needed to apply a semi tubular rivet is about 1/4 of the amount needed to apply a solid rivet. The most common use of semi tubular rivets is in lighting, brakes, ladders, binders, mechanical products, and electronics .

Riveted joints

Basically there are two types of riveted joints.

Lap joints But joints

Lap joints.

SINGLE RIVETED

DOUBLE RIVETED

Lap Joints are formed by riveting together plates that overlap one another.

Butt joints
Butt joints are those wherein two plates are kept side by side and are then covered by a plate or two plates and are riveted. They can be either chain riveted or zig zag riveted .

Types of Butt joint.

Chain riveted

Zig zag riveted

When a single cover plate is used it should be of somewhat greater thickness than that of either of the main plates to be united,in order to allow for the extra stress caused by the cover plate being out of the direct line of stress. When two cover plates are used each of them should be of not less thickness than half the thickness of either of the plates to be united.

Caulking
Done to make the joints leak proof. A caulking tool is used to facilitate forcing down of the edge. The head of the rivet is also caulked to make the joint steam tight. However, the risk of damage to the plate exists.

Fullering
It is more satisfactory way of making the joints leak proof. Here a fullering tool with a thickness at the end equal to the plate is used. Here there is a lesser risk of damage to the plate.

EFFICIENCY(%) ORIGINAL SOLID PLATE LAP JOINT (SINGLE RIVETED) 100 45

DOUBLE RIVETED BUTT JOINT ( SINGLE COVER, SINGLE RIVETED) BUTT JOINT ( SINGLE COVER, DOUBLE RIVETED BUTT JOINT ( DOUBLE COVER, SINGLE RIVETED BUTT JOINT ( DOUBLE COVER,DOUBLE RIVETED

60 45-50

60

55
66

Failure of riveted joints.

A riveted joint may fail in the following ways:

Tearing of the plate at an edge. Tearing of the plate across a row of rivets. Shearing of the rivets. Crushing of the plates or rivets.

Reasons for increase in use of welding over riveting

Welded structures are lighter. Welded structures provide 100% efficiency Shape of the members acts as a limiting criteria.( eg. Circular..) Welding can be done at any point in the structure. Less time consumption.

Some facts..

About three million rivets were used to hold the sections of the Titanic together. Some rivets have been recovered from the wreck and analysed. The findings show that they were made of substandard iron. When the ship hit the iceberg,the force of the impact caused the heads of the rivets to break and the sections of the Titanic to come apart. If good quality iron rivets had been used the sections may have stayed together and the ship may not have sunk

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