How to Riveting Composites Material?
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For composites, the question of how to install them without damaging the material is a matter of concern, and Riveting offers an excellent solution.Riveting composites material allows for stable connections without damaging the surface of the material.
By reading this article, you will learn about the method of riveting composites, how to select rivets and practical applications.
Table of Contents
What are the methods of riveting composites?
Self Clinching Fastener
Self clinching fastener is embedded in the composite material by pressure or impact. It is suitable for hybrid joining of metals and composites. However, incorrect use may result in delamination of the composite or fiber breakage.
Riveting
riveting is the mechanical deformation of rivets by tension to form a stable connection. Rivets can join many different composite and metallic materials. However, before using rivets, holes need to be drilled in advance. A large number of rivets are used in aircraft skins.
However, excessive riveting force can cause damage around the hole, so it is necessary to closely control the hole diameter (deviation ≤ 0.1mm) and riveting force.
Self Piercing riveting
The use of self piercing riveting eliminates the need for pre-drilled holes, directly penetrating the material and riveting it with punching force.
Self piercing rivets are mainly used for short fiber composites or thermoplastic basic composites. Its advantages include reduced hole damage and high joining efficiency.
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How to Choose Rivets for Composites?
I. Rivet material selection
Common riveting materials for riveting composites are listed below:
- Titanium alloy: Aircraft skins, hatches and other parts that require high lightweight and fatigue resistance.
- Aluminum: low cost and light weight. Corrosion resistance and can be riveted to carbon brazing.
- Nickel: suitable for riveting composite materials in high temperature environment.
Ⅱ. rivet structure type
Blind Rivets: Its structure is characterized by the expansion of the tail to form a latch, suitable for unilateral operation. When riveting composite materials, you can choose titanium alloy or 5056 aluminum alloy, lightweight and tensile strength ≥ 500MPa. It is used more in the UAV fuselage, small-size composite parts connection.
Break Stem Rivets: The rivet mandrel breaks during riveting to form a high tensile strength connection. This type of rivet is very suitable for riveting high yield strength composite materials (such as IM7 carbon fiber / epoxy resin).
Shear-Type Rivets: Flat or countersunk head design, preferentially subjected to shear loads, used to join composites to metal laminations.
Ⅲ. rivet optimization design key technology
Surface Finishes
- Anti-corrosion coatings: Titanium rivets can be aluminized or coated with PTFE to block galvanic coupling corrosion with carbon fibers.
- Lubrication and drag reduction: Manganese Phosphate coating reduces the frictional drag of the riveted joint (coefficient of friction reduced by 30%).
Coupling shape optimization
- Streamlined rivet head: reduces aerodynamic drag (for exposed aircraft connections).
- Distributed grooves: promote uniform rivet expansion (especially for thick plywood).
Lightweighting program
- Honeycomb core rivets: internal honeycomb structure reduces weight by 15%~20%, strength loss ≤5%.
- Variable cross-section design: localized thickening of connecting segments to improve tensile/shear performance.
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Applications of Riveting Composites
There are numerous examples of riveted composites being used in aerospace and automotive manufacturing, where the core of the technology is to achieve lightweight, high-strength connections through optimized processes.
Aerospace
Riveting can provide significant weight savings and stable connections for aerospace.
- Aircraft fuselage and wings (Airbus A350/A380): Carbon Fiber Reinforced Composite (CFRP) + Titanium skeleton.
- Spacecraft Fuel Tank (SpaceX Starship): Carbon Fiber/Epoxy Composite + Inconel Alloy Liner.
- UAV structure (MQ-9 Reaper): carbon fiber/epoxy skin with aluminum honeycomb core riveted on one side.
Automotive Manufacturing
- All-aluminum body (Audi A8/A6 e-tron): self-pierce riveted (SPR) + glued. Body torsional stiffness increased by 25%, 15% weight reduction in white body.
- New energy vehicle battery box (Tesla Model Y): automated self-pierce riveting robot. Avoid welding heat affected zone (HAZ), vibration resistance improved by 30%.
- Steel-aluminum hybrid body (Ford F-150 Lightning): high-strength steel rivets. Reduced processes, steel-aluminum connection strength up to 1.5 times that of conventional welding.
Custom Riveting Solutions for Composites Project
Composites can provide high strength, light weight, wear and temperature resistance, but how to safely rivet composites has become a challenge. Composites are very susceptible to fiber tearing and delamination around the hole when drilling, and riveting technology, which does not require pre-drilling, is the perfect solution to this problem.
If looking for a reliable rivet supplier for your composite project, contact us!Rivmate is the leading rivet manufacturer and supplier for professional riveting solutions.
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