Pop rivets are permanent mechanical fasteners. Before being used, a pop rivet consists of a smooth, cylindrical shaft with a round head on one end. The end opposite the head is referred to as the buck-tail. Once installed, the rivet is placed inside a punched or pre-drilled hole, and the tail is bucked or deformed, so that it expands to about 1 and a half times the original shaft diameter, holding the rivet in place. To distinguish in between the 2 ends of the rivet, the original head is referred to as the factory head and the deformed end is named the shop head or buck-tail.

Because there is a head on each of the ends of an installed pop rivets, they can help tension loads (loads parallel to the axis of the shaft); however, it is a lot more capable of supporting shear loads (loads perpendicular to the axis of the shaft).

There are several types of pop rivets, every of them produced to meet numerous cost, accessibility, and strength requirements:
- Solid rivets: Solid rivets are one of the oldest and most reputable kinds of fasteners. They consist merely of a shaft and head that are deformed using a hammer or rivet gun. Solid rivets are employed in applications where reliability and safety plays a really big role. They can be found in the structural parts of an aircraft: hundreds and thousands of rivets are utilized to assemble the frame of the modern day aircraft.
- Semi-tubular rivets: Semi-tubular rivets, also known as tubular rivets are similar to solid rivets, except that they have a partial hole opposite the head, at the tip. This hole is to reduce the amount of force needed for application by rolling the tubular portion outward. Tubular rivets can also be used as pivot points: a joint where movement is preferred. The most popular uses of the semi-tubular rivet are in lighting, brakes, ladders, binders, mechanical product and electronics.
- Blind pop rivets: Blind rivets are tubular and have a mandrel through the center. I am most familiar of the blind rivet than any other type of rivet available. Most blind rivets have limited use on aircrafts and are by no means used for structural repairs. However, they are useful for temporarily lining up holes.
- Drive rivet: A drive rivet is a form of the blind rivet that has a short mantel protruding from the lead that’s driven in using a hammer to flare out the end inserted inside the hole. They’re used in wood, plastic, metal along with other materials and require no specific tool other than a hammer and a backing block.
- Flush rivet: A flush rivet is utilized primarily on external metal surfaces in which good appearance and the elimination of unnecessary aerodynamic drag are important. They are extensively applied on the exterior of an aircraft for aerodynamic reasons.

Pop rivets are used in several several projects and industries and really are of the most fascinating tools for keeping important things exactly where they need to be.