Threaded rivet nuts can be classified in two basic groups: standard and heavy-duty. Standard rivet nuts will satisfy most blind applications where permanently installed threads are required. Heavy-duty rivet nuts (featuring heavy-duty heads and sidewalls) are engineered for the more demanding, high-performance applications.
Most fasteners designed to provide permanent load-bearing threads in thin materials require both sides of a work piece to be accessible during installation and final component assembly. For those instances where there is access from only one side, so-called “blind” applications, threaded rivet nuts (also known as blind threaded rivets, blind rivet nuts, and threaded inserts) can provide a solution. And, with inaccessibility no longer an obstacle, threaded rivet nuts are ideally suited (where other permanently installed threaded hardware is not) for tubing, extrusion, and other similar types of applications.
Standard rivet nut fasteners are available in unified and metric thread sizes from #6-32 to 1/2″-16 and M4 though M10; heavy-duty fastener thread sizes typically range from #4-40 through 1/2″-13 and M3 through M12. Both groups of rivet nuts are designed with a variety of head and body configurations to meet specified parameters of a given application.
Threaded rivet nuts are made from aluminum, brass, steel, or stainless steel and are designed to be used instead of tapped holes, weld nuts, rivets, and self-drilling or tapping screws. Installed from the accessible “front” side of a work piece, these rivet nuts will provide strong permanent metal threads in metal or plastic sheets as thin as .020″/0.50mm, which can promote thinner and lighter product designs.
Threaded rivet nuts further eliminate any need for additional hardware beyond a mating screw to complete final component assembly. This can save time and money during production, due to fewer parts and assembly steps.
