The importance of metal meshes might sound irrelevant on all grounds; however, if one looks closely, one will realize that our lives are perhaps impossible without metal meshes. We are not going to say they provide oxygen to humans to prove their significance; clearly, they can't do it. However, the type of lives we all live is practically impossible without metal meshes. No more twisting; let's make it easy for you; metal meshes are everywhere inside our walls as reinforcement, outside our houses as a boundary almost everywhere. How are walls going to hold themselves? How can they withstand heavy impacts? How can homes have a protective boundary? How can the safety of every sector be ensured? How is all this going to be without metal meshes? Therefore, metal meshes have more significance than we thought because we can not go by lives without them. With that being said, let's look at different types of metal meshes and what makes them different from one another.
4 Common Types of Metal Meshes:
There are three primary metal meshes: expanded, perforated, welded, and woven metal mesh. All of these are different in how they are manufactured, their characteristics, and their specific uses.
- Expanded Metal Mesh:
Expanded melt mesh involves zero waste in its manufacturing as it is made by making slits in a metal sheet which is then stretched. The stretching of the slitted metal sheet creates diamond-like shapes in the metal sheet and increases the length. As there is no waste made, the production cost of this type of metal mesh is also meager compared to the other kinds of metal meshes. The characteristics specific to this metal mesh are that it can retain its structural integrity as its manufacturing process involves no stress input on the metal sheet. Two, as in this metal mesh, the diamond pattern is formed by cutting slits into the sheet; therefore, its pattern won't unravel ever. Every buyer should consider before buying an expanded metal mesh is its thickness and the dimension of its strands. Expanded metal mesh is mainly used for flooring, fencing, steps, security, rigging, etc.
- Perforated Metal Mesh:
Unlike expanded metal mesh, perforated metal mesh is manufactured by running a metal sheet through a machine that punches holes into the sheet at regular intervals in any shape and pattern. However, the negative side of this metal mesh is that it creates a lot of waste as the holes that are punched into it leave a lot of metal. Although this leftover metal can be recycled but by that way, the production cost of this metal mesh is increased. However, the perforated metal mesh is a unique type of metal mesh as it has to offer endless options of holes shapes and sizes, mesh sizes, gauges, variety of materials. It is used mainly for decorative purposes as the variety of designs is beyond comparison with any other metal mesh.
- Welded Metal Mesh:
The metal sheet does not create welded metal mesh; instead, for manufacturing, a welded metal mesh longitudinal wires and cross wires are soldered to each other. The spacing left can be changed according to the requirement of the customer. The plus point of this mesh is that the machine as a whole bends it, so the risk of inappropriate bending of bars is reduced much. There is also not much metal waste created in manufacturing this metal mesh, and it is also very economical and handy to install. It is commonly used in agricultural, horticultural, industrial, food, transportation, etc.
- Woven Metal Mesh:
Woven metal mesh is manufactured exactly how winding wires create cloth at right angles. However, the weaving can be two different types, either plain weave or twill weave. The spacing in the pattern can be changed according to the requirement. The weaving of the wires makes it very firm and durable. A wholesale woven metal mesh would be the cheapest to get among all the other mesh types at it is manufactured easily without creating any wastage.