What are some common Fastener Types?

When securing materials together for an aircraft assembly, mechanical fastening serves as the most commonly used method. Fasteners are hardware devices that can affix parts together in a permanent or non-permanent fashion, and they can come in a variety of shapes, sizes, materials, and types to accommodate different needs and structures. Regarding the construction of aircraft, rivets, bolts, nuts, bearings, and other fasteners all work together to provide rigorous assemblies that can withstand the forces of flight.

When procuring a fastener for use on a particular aircraft, it is important that it meets certain strength and quality requirements in order to optimally serve the assembly. Generally, aerospace fasteners are manufactured to be highly resistant to oxidation and corrosion, have high fatigue, tensile, and shear strength, be lightweight, and withstand extreme environments. As such, aerospace fasteners are typically constructed from materials such as aluminum, steel, or titanium due to their various advantages when used on aircraft.

When installing and maintaining the skin of an aircraft, rivets provide the strength needed to properly secure the assembly. As a permanent mechanical fastener with a head and smooth shaft, the rivet may be passed through a preformed hole of an assembly before having its tail deformed. As a result, a second head is created on the opposite side of the assembly to lock everything in place. Due to its installation method, rivets excel in the handling of both shear loads and tension loads. As aircraft mechanics may only have access to a single side of the assembly during the installation process, blind rivets serve as a popular rivet type for their ability to be installed from one side.

Bolts are a threaded fastener type, typically featuring a head and threaded shaft. With their design, bolts may be passed through the performed hole of an assembly, and a mating nut is tightened to the threading in order to press materials together. Similar to the rivet fastener, bolts are often used in areas of the aircraft structure where there is a need for high amounts of strength. As alloy steel, stainless steel, and titanium all are common materials for such fasteners, high strength can be achieved while avoiding corrosion on surfaces. To ensure that bolts are capable of withstanding the forces enacted upon them during standard flight operations, one should always choose those that meet set standards such as AN or NAS.

A bearing is a machine element, often implemented within an assembly in order to facilitate motion and reduce friction between moving parts. With roller bearings, races and rollers are present in order to distribute a load more evenly across the component. As compared to more basic bearing types, roller bearings are more capable of taking on higher moment loads. As a common roller bearing type, needle roller bearings are those that utilize small needle rollers as their rolling elements. Due to their construction, the needle roller bearing provides a small cross-section and features a higher load-carrying capacity. For aircraft construction, needle roller bearings are most often implemented within controls.

With a variety of bearing types, aircraft can secure their assemblies and reliably conduct flight operations with ease. At ASAP Aviation Stock, we are your sourcing solution for all of your aerospace fastener needs. As a premier purchasing platform for aviation components, we ensure that all parts are rigorously tested, inspected, and cross-referenced for quality assurance. Furthermore, each and every item has been sourced from a trusted manufacturer and ships alongside its qualifying certifications or manufacturing trace documents. Get started on the purchasing process today and experience how ASAP Aviation Stock can fulfill your operational needs with ease.


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