Views: 1000 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2025-08-19 Origin: Site
Fasteners are the unsung heroes of the manufactured world. From the chair you're sitting on to the smartphone in your hand, countless products are held together by these essential components. In simple terms, a fastener is a hardware device that mechanically joins or affixes two or more objects together.
While there are thousands of specialized variations, most fasteners fall into five fundamental categories. Understanding these basic types is key to grasping how the world is assembled.
Screws are arguably the most versatile and common type of fastener. They are characterized by a helical ridge known as a thread that winds around a cylindrical shaft. Screws create their own mating thread when driven into a material like wood, plastic, or metal, creating a strong, secure hold.
Key Feature: They do not typically require a pre-made nut; they fasten directly into the material itself.
Common Types: Wood screws, machine screws, sheet metal screws, and self-tapping screws.
Primary Use: Fastening components to surfaces, assembling furniture, and in electronics and machinery.
Bolts are closely related to screws but are designed to be used with a nut to clamp parts together. A bolt has a threaded shaft that passes through pre-drilled holes in the materials being joined. A nut is then threaded onto the end of the bolt and tightened, creating a powerful clamping force.
Key Feature: They are used in conjunction with a nut and often a washer. They are not meant to tap their own thread into the materials they are fastening.
Common Types: Hex bolts, carriage bolts, eye bolts, and their corresponding hex nuts, lock nuts, and wing nuts.
Primary Use: High-strength applications where parts need to be disassembled and reassembled, such as in automotive frames, structural steelwork, and machinery.
Rivets are permanent mechanical fasteners. Once installed, they cannot be removed without being destroyed. A rivet is a smooth, cylindrical shaft with a head on one end. It is inserted into a pre-drilled hole, and the plain end is then deformed (or "bucked") with a special tool, creating a second head that holds the materials firmly together.
Key Feature: They form a permanent, vibration-resistant bond.
Common Types: Solid rivets, pop (blind) rivets (which can be installed from one side), and tubular rivets.
Primary Use: Applications where welding is not ideal or where a smooth surface is needed, such as in aircraft fuselages, shipbuilding, bridges, and jeans.
While not a fastener themselves, washers are a critical supporting component. They are thin, disk-shaped plates with a hole in the center. They are placed under the head of a bolt or screw, or under a nut, to serve several important functions.
Key Feature: They distribute the load of the fastener over a wider area.
Common Types: Flat washers (for load distribution), split lock washers (to prevent loosening from vibration), and fender washers (for larger holes).
Primary Use: Protecting surfaces from damage, preventing fasteners from loosening, and acting as a spacer.
Nails are one of the oldest and simplest types of fasteners. They are a pointed pin of metal driven into materials (primarily wood) by impact from a hammer. They hold materials together through friction and the compression of the wood fibers around their shaft.
Key Feature: Quick and inexpensive installation, but offers lower holding power compared to threaded fasteners.
Common Types: Common nails, finishing nails, brads, and roofing nails.
Primary Use: Framing in construction, attaching roofing shingles, fastening trim, and in pallet assembly.
Each of these five basic fastener types—screws, bolts and nuts, rivets, washers, and nails—has a unique role to play. The choice between them depends on the required strength, the need for permanence or disassembly, the materials being joined, and the specific application. Together, they form the fundamental toolkit that holds our modern world securely in place.
