Assessment of Mechanical and Recycling Properties of Selected Types of Bolted and Riveted Connections in Product Design

In order to comply with the principle of sustainable development in product design, in addition to the mechanical properties of products, recycling properties should also be taken into account at the early stages of design. This paper explores the interplay between mechanical and recycling properties in product design in order to achieve a compromise between these design aspects. The research included typical metrics used to evaluate a product for its mechanical and recycling properties. The tests were carried out on a lap connection made in four variants: as a two-bolt, three-bolt, two-rivet and three-rivet connection. It was demonstrated that the stiffness of bolted connections is significantly lower compared to equivalent riveted connections. On the other hand, using three rivets instead of two in a connection yields better results in terms of load-bearing capacity compared to a similar increase in the number of fasteners in a bolted connection. The results demonstrate the impact of material structure of components and dismantling operations on the financial performance of the recycling process in relation to the assessment of recycling aspects in product design.