Hollow rivets are commonly used in industries such as apparel and footwear. Building upon the design of semi-hollow rivets, hollow rivets feature a countersunk cavity that extends all the way to the rivet head; due to their light weight and relatively weaker head structure, they are typically employed in riveting applications involving non-metallic materials that are not subject to heavy loads.
While hollow rivets are generally found in the apparel and footwear sectors, solid rivets-which require a secondary riveting process-are utilized for joining heavy-duty workpieces, often forming permanent, non-removable assemblies. Semi-hollow rivets are the most widely applied type; specifically, "tapered-tail" rivets (featuring a reduced wire diameter at the tail end) are manufactured from hard wire stock. These rivets are capable of penetrating steel plates up to 0.5 mm in thickness without the need for a pre-drilled hole-provided the rivet itself does not bend or deform during installation-and are widely used in the manufacture of combination lock cases, travel luggage, and military-grade bags. In contrast, "hollow" rivets (a subset of semi-hollow rivets) are produced using softer wire materials; a key requirement for these rivets is that they must not crack or split after being flared open. Available in numerous variations, semi-hollow rivets-as well as "male-female" rivets-are now being extensively adopted as substitutes for traditional axles in certain toys, a shift that has enabled significant reductions in production costs. Finally, blind rivets (both pull-mandrel and drive-pin types) are predominantly used for joining relatively thin or soft materials; these applications typically involve less stringent requirements, and the rivets themselves are generally manufactured using materials characterized by high plasticity.
