Peel rivets (or peel type blind rivets, called pop rivets, split rivets or exploding peel rivets) comprise a special class of blind rivets used to join soft or brittle materials. You might see a name like this in European engineering catalogs. However, in North American tooling circles they are often called “flower rivets” or “banana pull- pin rivets” – named for the way the opposite side splits into four distinct sections curling outwards like a banana opening.

How a peel rivet works: You pop it into a pre-drilled hole from one side. As you pull the mandrel the tail end of the rivet body splits into four petals. Those petals peel back and clamp against the back side of your work piece. By doing this, you create a large bearing surface that distributes the load.Generally, pop rivets put all force into one point; they're effective for steel or hard alloys, but they crush plastic, tear wood and crack composite materials.Peel rivets avoid this by distributing the clamping force over a larger area.