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Expanded metal, perforated metal, welded wire and woven wire mesh – what’s the difference?
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We are often asked by our customers to explain the differences between materials to help them make an informed decision on selecting the most suitable product for their application or project. A common question is: what are the differences between expanded metal, perforated metal, welded wire and woven wire mesh?
In this blog, Ian Hutchinson, Product Manager at The Expanded Metal Company, compares each product’s characteristics.
Firstly, it’s important to understand how each product is manufactured…
Expanded Metal Mesh
Expanded metal mesh is produced through bespoke tooling, which simultaneously slits and stretches material (stainless steel, mild steel, aluminium etc) fed from coil or plate. This produces no waste and in fact offers a greater yield of finished material than that which is originally fed into the process. Expanded metal mesh is also homogeneous by design, in that it is one single piece of material with no welds to break or wires to fray.
The expanded metal mesh manufacturing process can produce an array of mesh patterns, not solely limited to diamond shapes. Mesh strands exhibit an angular tilt that gives a three dimensional appearance: this offers practical benefits including aesthetic appeal (so it is ideal for use in architecture and interior design) and added grip (making it suitable for use in walkways, ramps and flooring). Raised mesh can also be used as a key to serve as a substrate for render and plaster.
It is also common for conventional expanded metal to then undergo a secondary process which involves flattening it to form a completely two dimensional flat sheet. Flattened mesh can be used in applications including filtration, machine guards, animal flooring, speaker grilles and electromagnetic screens.
Perforated Metal Mesh
Much like expanded metal, perforated metal is produced through piercing the material with bespoke tooling to offer an array of shapes such as circles, squares and diamonds. However, unlike expanded metal, perforated metal is punched and not stretched and therefore produces waste material. This clearly has cost implications – especially if high value raw materials are used in the manufacturing process.
Welded Wire Mesh
Welded wire mesh is produced by feeding an array of metal wire from independent spools, which are then appropriately spaced and welded in place. Welded wire mesh is an economical product, however its welds are prone to becoming areas of weakness when strength and longevity are to be considered – for instance in security fencing applications. Due to the nature of the welding process, material suitability is also limited.
Woven Wire Mesh
The production of woven wire mesh involves weaving metal wire at 90 degree intervals which result in a perpendicular, repetitive arrangement akin to weaving fabric for clothing. The process lends itself well to achieving very fine apertures. However, the process relies heavily on tension rather than mechanical fixing, which means woven wire is prone to fray and not ideally suited to formed components.
Now let’s summarise the benefits of each mesh…
Economy
Strength
Longevity
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Aesthetics
Conductivity
Grip
Formability
Expanded Metal Mesh
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Perforated Metal Mesh
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Welded Wire Mesh
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Woven Wire Mesh
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You can view our full range of expanded metal here
Need a more cost effective alternative to perforated metal mesh, why not consider our Experf range?
Need an expanded metal alternative to 50x50x3 welded wire mesh, how about our Square Mesh range?
Need a more reliable alternative to woven wire mesh for formed components, why not consider our Micromesh Range?
Expanded metal baskets are useful for heavyweight custom parts washing applications because they combine some of the best traits of wire baskets and sheet metal baskets. Expanded metal, unlike wire mesh, is made of a single solid sheet of material that has been compressed and stretched. Because expanded is a single piece of material, it tends to be stronger than wire mesh of the same thickness and requires less welding.
Compared to sheet metal, expanded metal offers more open space and is less costly per square inch of basket. In fact, expanded metal is even more resource-efficient than perforated sheet metal, since only very minuscule amounts of the metal are lost during the expanding process compared to the perforation process.
Moreover, there is more than one type of expanded metal that can be used for baskets. Expanded metal comes in two distinct varieties: Standard and flattened. What’s the difference between standard and flattened expanded metal? And, which one is best for your expanded metal baskets?
A Brief Explanation of Standard vs. Flattened Expanded Metal
The term “standard expanded metal” refers to the metal as it comes out of the expanding machine. While the specific dimensions of the expanded metal will vary depending on the expander and the thickness of the sheet metal that was expanded, the thickness of the metal strands and the open space between them will be consistent and regular. The surface of this expanded metal may have a slightly rounded appearance (depending on the expanding equipment), which helps reduce the risk of wash process runoff collecting in the expanded metal basket.
Flattened expanded metal is what results when standard expanded metal is put through a cold rolling steel mill to flatten the expanded metal mesh out. This makes the expanded metal mesh thinner, flatter, and wider/longer. Because it is sometimes difficult to predict how much expansion will occur in the mesh during the flattening process, flattened expanded metal dimensions may vary slightly from original estimates.
Additionally, flattened expanded metal dimensions will change depending on whether it is passed through the roller along the short way of design (SWD, the narrow direction of the diamond pattern) or the long way of design (LWD, the wider, longer direction of the diamond pattern).
Which Type of Expanded Metal is Better for Your Baskets?
The choice of using standard or flattened expanded metal baskets will depend on your application. The slightly rounded surface of standard expanded metal may be better for parts-washing applications where residue from process runoff may be a negative factor.
Meanwhile, flattened expanded metal baskets may be more desirable for some materials-handling applications where a flat surface may better distribute weight or prevent held parts from sticking to the basket’s metal strands. Also, because flattened expanded metal is slightly thinner and wider, it is marginally lighter per square foot than the standard equivalent—which may be important in expanded metal baskets where weight is an issue.
Need help choosing between standard and flattened expanded metal baskets for your manufacturing application? Reach out to the experts at Marlin for advice!
If you are looking for more details, kindly visit expanded walkway mesh.