structural:scholar_edition
Applications

Before welding techniques and bolted joints were developed, metal-framed buildings and structures such as the Eiffel Tower, Shukhov Tower and the Sydney Harbour Bridge were generally held together by riveting, as were automobile chassis. Riveting is still widely used in applications where light weight and high strength are critical, such as in an aircraft. Sheet metal alloys used in aircraft skins are generally not welded, because the aircraft in high-speed flight skins will be stretched, extrusion may occur deformation and change in material properties. Riveting can reduce the vibration transmission between joints, thereby reducing the risk of cracking. The firmness is better and more reliable against such repeated stress changes. In order to reduce air resistance, countersunk rivets are generally used in aircraft skins.

A large number of countries used rivets in the construction of armored tanks during World War II, including the M3 Lee (General Grant) manufactured in the United States. However, many countries soon learned that rivets were a large weakness in tank design since if a tank was hit by a large projectile it would dislocate the rivets and they would fly around the inside of the tank and injure or kill the crew, even if the projectile did not penetrate the armor. Some countries such as Italy, Japan, and Britain used rivets in some or all of their tank designs throughout the war for various reasons, such as lack of welding equipment or inability to weld very thick plates of armor effectively.

Blind rivets are used almost universally in the construction of plywood road cases.

Common but more exotic uses of rivets are to reinforce jeans and to produce the distinctive sound of a sizzle cymbal.