When most people think of riveting, they think of the classic blind rivet-the two-piece fastener consisting of a headed, hollow rivet body and a solid mandrel. However, riveting actually encompasses a wide range of technologies, including impact rivets, self-piercing rivets, self-clinching fasteners, rivet-nuts, and orbital and radial forming. Each has its own niche, its own advantages and limitations. Which to choose depends on the application.

Besides the air bag module, an air bag system consists of crash sensors, passenger sensors, a control unit, seat belt pretensioners, a warning light and a wire harness to link them all together. It’s the small components, like the inflator and sensors, that are assembled with high-speed automation.

ASSEMBLY magazine is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. To mark the occasion, we are publishing a series of articles examining the past, present and future of various assembly technologies.

The right fastener can mean the difference between an automated screwdriver that operates smoothly and one that jams constantly.

Most automated assembly systems are designed to make one specific product. When production of that assembly ends, the systems are scrapped or reconfigured at great expense. But, it doesn’t have to be that way.

Much has changed since Jack Kirby and his colleagues at Texas Instruments invented the integrated circuit in 1958.

Despite years of research by electronics assemblers, the problem of tin whiskers defies an easy solution. And the stakes are high, to say the least. Since 1992, tin whiskers have been blamed for the complete failure of three commercial satellites and the partial disabling of four others.

Flux focusing enables the motor to produce a high level of flux density from a low-energy magnet.