The fact that only one side of the material can be accessed makes the other side of the fixture blind. A good example of this would be a flag pole, the mast of a sailboat, a hollow steel door, etc.
Blind rivets are used heavily in manufacturing today, along with the many other varieties of high-speed riveting systems which allow the installer to set up to 15,000 rivets per hour, using a speed fastening system like the Avdel Speed Fasteners.
Setting a blind rivet is similar to setting a drywall anchor. The blind rivet is inserted into the pre-drilled hole in the material leaving the mandrel exposed for pulling up on the blind rivet mandrel compressing the rivet in the same fashion as you would a molly bolt or toggle bolt for drywall. As the rivet tool pulls up on the mandrel, the backside of the rivet compresses locking the rivet permanently in place before the mandrel snaps off leaving just the rivet.
Some Blind Rivet Styles available today are Open End Rivets, Closed-End Rivets, Multi-Grip Rivets, Tri-Bulb or Bulb Tite Rivets, T-Rivets, Q-Lok Rivets, Peel Type Rivets, Structural Style Rivets, Nylon Rivets, Briv Fasteners, Riv Fasteners, and many more brands and styles. Rivet Diameters range from 3/32 to 3/8 inch in diameter with head forms of protruding, countersunk and large flange.
Before Compression |  After Compression |
Above, please see a pictorial version of a blind rivet before and after compression. The materials being fastened together comprise what is referred to as the grip range. The rivet must fall between the provided minimum and maximum grip range, which is provided by the rivet manufacturer. The manufacturer’s design of the rivet in combination with the mandrel or break stem, is to have the mandrel break precisely at the proper load to ensure that each rivet is consistent with design specifications.
Blind rivets have been produced in many materials from steel, aluminum, Nylon, Plastics, Copper to a variety of Stainless Steel types unlike the styles used back when Rosie The Riveter installed rivets during WWII (See. http://www.pophistorydig.com/topics/rosie-the-riveter-1941-1945/ ).