Amorphous metal rivet systems
AssigneeLiquidmetal Technologies, Inc.
InventorJoseph W. Stevick
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A family of rivets including both blind and bucked-type rivets made at least partially from an amorphous metal alloy. A blind rivet includes a head portion and a tail portion. At least one of the head portion and the tail portion is configured to elastically deform to secure a first member in position relative to a second member. The head portion and the tail portion may include one or more deformable legs having an interface feature configured to engage with one of the first member and the second member. A bucked-type rivet assembly includes a formable member and an anvil. The anvil is configured to thermoplastically deform the formable member proximate to the second member by passing current through an electrical circuit that includes at least one of the formable member and anvil.
Claims14
A blind rivet made at least partially from an amorphous metal alloy, the blind rivet comprising:
- a head portion;
- a tail portion comprising a first leg and a second leg, wherein an end of each of the first leg and the second leg comprises a tail interface;
- and
- a pulling member disposed on the head portion of the blind rivet, wherein the pulling member extends away from the tail portion of the blind rivet along a longitudinal axis of the blind rivet,
- wherein:
- the head portion of the blind rivet is configured to engage with a first member,
- the tail interface for each of the first leg and the second leg is configured to engage with a second member,
- at least one of the first leg and the second leg is configured to elastically deform to secure the first member in position relative to the second member, and
- the pulling member is configured to generate a tensile force on the blind rivet and simultaneously a compressive force that acts to reduce separation between the first leg and the second leg when the tail portion is engaged with the second member.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.