Mechanical fasteners are hardware devices used for adjoining materials together. They are used in millions of assemblies around the world and are available in a range of sizes to fit different type of applications. Common fastener types are available in different forms.
They can be broadly classified into non-permanent fasteners and permanent fasteners. Non-permanent fasteners can be further divided into sub categories of general fasteners and threaded fasteners.
General fasteners are often affiliated with shafts and commonly consists of pins, keys and retaining rings among others. The most commonly used threaded fasteners are bolts, screws, concrete anchors and nuts.
Washers are used with threaded fasteners and they are made up of a thin plate with a hole in the middle. Their fundamental role is to help distribute the load of a threaded fastener. Additionally, rivets work as permanent fasteners and are destroyed upon disassembling.
