By Authority Of

THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Legally Binding Document

By the Authority Vested By Part 5 of the United States Code 552(a) and
Part 1 of the Code of Regulations 51 the attached document has been duly
INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE and shall be considered legally
binding upon all citizens and residents of the United States of America.
HEED THIS NOTICE: Criminal penalties may apply for noncompliance.

e
Document Name:

ASTM A502: Steel Structural Rivets

CFR Section(s):

24 CFR 200, Subpart S

Standards Body:

American Society for Testing and Materials

Official Incorporator:
THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

OFFICE OF THE FEDERAL REGISTER

WASHINGTON, D.C.

AMERICAN NATIONAL ANSI/ASTM A 502 - 76

STANDARD

American Association State

Highway and Transportation Officials Standard
AASHTO No.: M 228

Standard Specification for

STEEL STRUCTURAL RIVETS!

This Standard is issued under the fixed designation A 502; the number immediately following the designation indicates the
year of original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of
last reapproval.
1. Scope
1.1 This specification covers three grades of
steel rivets in diameters from 1/2 to I V2 in. (13
to 38 mm), incl, for structural fabricating
purposes. Grade I is a carbon steel ri vet for
general purposes. Grade 2 is a carbon-manganese steel rivet suitable, with proper riveting technique, for use with high-strength
carbon and high-strength low alloy structural
steels. Grade 3 is similar to Grade 2 with enhanced atmospheric corrosion resistance approximately four times that of carbon steel
without copper.
NOTE I-Grade I rivets correspond to those
formerly made from steel conforming to Specification A 141 for Structural Rivet Steel! and Grade 2
rivets correspond to those formerly made from steel
conforming to Specification A 195 for HighStrength Structural Rivet Steel. 2 Grade 3 rivets
correspond to those made from steel conforming
to Specification A 588 for High-Strength LowAlloy Structural Steel with 50 000 psi Minimum
Yield Point to 4 in. Thick. 3

1.2 Rivets conforming to this specification

may be made by either the hot- or coldheading process. It is expected that these
rivets ordinarily will be hot driven.
NOTE 2-The values stated in inch-pound units
are to be regarded as the standard.
2. Process

2.1 The steel for rivets shall be made by

the open-hearth, basic-oxygen, or electric-furnace process.
3. Chemical Requirements

3.1 The rivets shall conform to the heat

and product analysis requirements for chemical composition given in Table I.
3.2 Application of heats of steel to which
bismuth, selenium, tellurium, or lead has
449

been intentionally added shall not be permitted.

4. Test Specimens

4.1 Rivets used for testing shall be heat

treated in the following manner prior to
testing:
4.1.1 Grade i-Normalize by air cooling
from above the transformation range.
4.1.2 Grade 2-Anneal by heating to 1450F
(790C), holding for 30 min at temperature
and cooling in the furnace.
4.1.3 Grade 3-Heat treatment of test
samples is not a requirement; however, at
the option of the manufacturer, normalizing
of test samples is permitted.
5. Mechanical Requirements
5.1 The rivets shall conform to the hardness requirements shown in Table i. Hardness
shall be measured on a transverse section
through the shank of the rivet at a point one
quarter of the nominal diameter from the axis
of the rivet. This transverse section shall be
taken at a distance from the end of the rivet
which is equal to the diameter of the rivet.
Except as noted below, either the Brinell or
the Rockwell hardness test may be used. Test
procedure shall conform to Methods and Definitions A 370, for Mechanical Testing of
Steel Products. 4 Brinell hardness shall be
measured at only one point. Rockwell hard1 This specification is under the jurisdiction of ASTM
Committee F-16 on Fasteners.
Current edition approved July 30, 1976. Published
October 1976. Originally published as A 502 - 64. Last
previous edition A 502 - 75.
2 Discontinued; see 1966 Book of ASTM Standards,
Part 4.
3 Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Part 4.
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Parts I, 2, 3,4,5,
and 10.

A 502
':.,

8.3.1 One type of head,'

8.3.2 One nominal diameter, and
8.3.3 One nominal length.
8.4 From each lot, the number of tests for
each requirement shall be as follows:

ness shall be measured at three points, equally

spaced about the axis of the rivet, and the
hardness shall be taken as the arithmetic average of the three measurements. When use of
the Brinell hardness test is prohibited by proximity to the periphery of the section, measurement of hardness shall be made by the Rockwell hardness test.

Numli~~ of p'ieces in bit

SAO and under

801 to 8 000
8 001 to 22 000
Over 22 '000

6. Dimensions
6.1 Dimensions of rivets" uhtess otherwise
specified, shall conform to those of one of the
head types provided in American National
Standard B18.4 for Large Rivets (V2 :Inch
Nominal Diameter and Larger).5
7. Marking
7.1 Rivet heads shall be marked as fo'llows
to identify th6' grade, and 'shall al~~ be
marked to ,identi,fy the manufacturer.
Marking may be either r'aised or depressed at
the option of the manufacturer.
'
Grade

Grade Marking

I
2
3

non,eTequired~,

'2

"

"The
~ The numeral I may be used at the manufacturer's op-

tiorl:
tion:

'

' ,

8. Number of Tests a,nd R.ete~ts Applicable fO,r

Mechanical (Hardness) Testing and
Ch~inical Analysis
'
8.1 The; reqllirements of this specification
shall ,pe ,met; in continuous mass production
for stock, and "the manufaoturer .shall make
sample inspections to ensureth,at the, product
con(orms to ithe specified requirements. Additional tests ,of, individual :shipments of material' are ngt orqinarily contemplated. Indi"
vidual heats ,of steel are not identified in the
fini~hed product.
8.2 When ,specified in the order, the manufacturyf sha,ll furnish a test report certified to
cPrnpleted set of mechanical tests
be the last completed
for each stock size in each shipment.
'8.3 Additional tests of individual shipments
of rivets a,re ,not ordinarily reql!in,d but when
such additional teSts are spec,ified on the purchase order, a lot for the purpose of selecting
test samples shall consist of all rivets in the
shipment which have the following common
characteristics:

Number
of
" Samples
I
2
3

8.5 If any test specimen shows defective

preparation it may be discarded and another
specimen substituted.
' "
8.6 Should, any specimen fail to meet the
requirements of its specified test, double the
number of specimens from the same lot shall
be tested Jor the property in which failure was
(ound and all the additional specimens shall
m,eet the specification requirements:'
9. Quality Ljlvel for Visual Soundness

9.llnspectio'n-Acceptable qt,lality level

(Note 3) for rivets shaH be as given in Table
3:
NO~E 3':"-The acceptable quality level (AQL)
provides standards for visual soundness inspeCtion,
The standards \lsed, he~e are t\lose, of a recomIl!rge solid rivets formulated by
mended practiGe for large
the I!1!i,ustrial, Fa,s~eners
Fl!s~eners Institute, June, 1965. That
practice is ba,sedo,n Military Standard MIL-STD10.5D for Sampling Procedures and Tables for
Inspection by Attributes. Table 3 provides levels of
qUl!lity for va,rious
various attributes or characteristics and
qua,lity
these are 'given numerical value in Tabie 4,

9.2 The AQL sampling and inspection shall

be conducted in accordance with the sample
size, acceptance, and rejection values given in
Table 4.
'
10. Inspection
.10..1 I f the testing descr,ibed in 8.3 is required by the purchaser, it shall be specified
in the inquiry and contract or order:
10.2 The inspector representing the purchaser shall have free entry at all times, while
work on the contract of the purchaser is being
performed, to all parts of the manufacturer~s
works that concern the rpanufacture of the
material ordered. The manufacturer shaWafford the inspector' all reasonable facilities,
without charge, to satisfy him that the material is being furnished in ,accordance with this
5.A~ailabl~ from American National'Standards Institute, 1430 Broadway, New York, N, Y.10018.

450

A 502

specification. All tests (except product analysis) and inspection shall be made at the' place
of manufacture prior to shipment, unless otherwise specified, and shall be so conducted as
not to interfere unn'ec~ssarily with the operation of the works.

11. Rejection

11.1 Rejections based on requirements

specified herein shall be reported to the manu~
facturer within 30 days after receipt of material by the purchaser.

TABLE 1 Chemical Requirements

Grade 1

Grade 2

Grade 3"
Class A

Carbon
Manganese
Phosphorus, max
acid
basic
Sulfur, max
Silicon
Nickel
Chromium
Copper
Copper, when copper
bearing steel is
specified, min
Vanadium

Heat
Analysis,
%

Product
Analysis,"
%

Heat
Analysis,
%

Product
Analysis,
%

0.13-0.25
0.30-0.90

0.11-0.27

0.19-0.30
1.20-1.65

0.06
0.04
0.05

0.070
0.048
0.058

0.06
0.04
0.05
0.10-0.30

.. .
.. .
.. .
.. .

0.27~0.93

...
.. .
... .
.. .

Product
Analysis,
%

Heat
Analysis,
%

Product
Analysis,
%

0.16-0.33
1.14-1.71

0.10-0.19
0.90-1.25

0.09-0.20
0.86-1.24

0.20 max
0.75-1.25

0.21 max
0.71-1.29

0.070
0.048
0.058
0.08-0.32

.. .

.. .

.. .

...

0.04
0.05
0.15-0.30

0.045
0.055
0.13-0.32

0.40-0.65
0.25-0.40

0.37-0.68
0.22-0.43

0.04
0.05
0.15-0.30
0.25-0.50
0.40-0.70
0.20-0.40

0.045
0.055
0.13-0.32
0.22-0.53
0.37_0.73
0.17-0.43

0.20

0.18

...

...
...
. ..

0.20

0.18

.. .

.. .

.. .

.. .

...

0.02-0.10

.. .
.. .

Class B

Heat
Analysis,
%

.. .

. ..

...

0.01-0.11

0"'

0.01:...0.10

...

0.11 max

"Product analysis is'not applicable to'rivets made from rimmed steel or merchant quality bars.
b A and B are classes of material used for Grade 3 rivets. Selection of a class shall be at the option of the rivet
manufacturer.
.
TABLE 2 Hardness Requirements
Grade I

Grade 2

Grade 3"

Min Max Min Max Min Max

Rockwell, B
Brinell. 500kgf
(4900-N), 10mm ball

55
103

72

126

76
137

85
163

76
137

93
197

a In order to meet the atmospheric corrosion or hardness requirements or both, various combinations of alloying elements will be required. Maximum limits may be
specified for the number and amount of alloy elements by
mutual agreement between purchaser and producer at the
time of ordering.

451

A502
Quality'.
TABLE 3 Levels of Quality',
Defect -. " -'.' -.
Crack or burst", ',
Duds (incompleted rivet or foreign
material)

TABLE 4 Numerical Values for Levels of Quality

Acceptabl~ Q~~lity

_,A,9.eptalile
..
A,9.eptalile
Quality Level

'.
" Level

10.0,
LO
1.0

"Crack and burst are two names for the same thing.
Each designates an abrupt interruption of "tIW periphery of
a rivet head by separation of the metal: Such interruptions
do notad\,ersely affect structural strength, corrosion resistance, or: bther functional requirements' of the rivet, but are
unsightly if they are,
are. large; For this reason, a rivet with it
crack. or burst having ah opO'ning at the periphery bfthe
crack,
head'~wii'icb is wider th'al\ 0.020 in. plus 0.05'lime~ the rivet
head'~wii"icb
diameter is considered defective.

io:6

LO
La

. Sample
, Size

., Lot Size

,Ac_ ReAc- Re- , .Ac_

cept- jeccept- jec-

anceU tion ll

to
51 to
91 to
151 to
281
501
1201
3201
10;001
10;-001
]5 001
150 001
over 500

50
90
150
280

to "125'000
to
to
3200
to 10000
to 35 000
to 150 000
to 500 000
000

8
13
20
32
50
80
125
200
315
500
800
1250

a
00
a
I
I
2
3
5

I
I
I
2
2
3
4
6

10
14
21

11
II

IS
15
22

ancea tion i)
2
3
5

7
10
14
21
21
21
21
21
21

6
8
II
11
15
22
22
22
22
22
22

a Defectives in sample permitted for acceptance of 1M.

b

Defectives in sample requiring rejection of lot.

The AmeriCan' 58'ciet>: jor Testiiig and Materials takes no position respecting the validity of any patent rights asserted
ih:.cbnhect'ion'Withany item mentioned in 'this standard. Users of this standard are expressly advised that determilt'aiion
ih:,cbnhect'ion''Withany
determilfaiion
of the validity of any such patent rights, and the risk of infringement of 'such rights, is entirely their own responsibility.
This standard is subject to revision at any time by the responsible technical committee and must, be reviewed every five
.or withdrawn. Your comments qre invited either for revision of this standard or
years andifnot :revised, either reapproved ,or
for additiondl standards and should ,be
.be addressed to A STM Headquarters. Your comments will receive careful cOllSideration
at a meeting of the resp_onsible
-comments ,have not received
resp.onsible techni,cql
techni.cql committee, which yi).u
ylju may attend. If you feellhat your comments
afair.hearingyou sho!,1d make Your vjews
views known .to the ASTM Committee on Standards, 1916 Race 'St.,' Phiiadelphia,Pa.
afair,hearingyou
19103, which will schedule a further hearing regarding your comments. Failing satisfaction there, you may appeal-to' the
ASTM Board of Directors.

452