Expanded Metal Terminology 101

Midwest produces Expanded Metal in a variety of materials such as aluminum, stainless steel, galvanized, carbon steel, copper, brass and titanium. Our expanded metals are often used as Safety Grating, Chimney Cpas, Wire Mesh, guards, fixtures, filters and more. They are also referred to as Expanded Metal Coils.

SWD – Short way of diamond
LWD – Long way of diamond
SWO – Short way of opening
LWO – Long way of opening

Flat – Expanded metal that is cold-rolled after expansion, to provide a smooth, flat and level sheet; thus the term Flattened Metal.  The flattening process will reduce the original thickness by approximately 10%.

Unflat – Standard expanded metal with raised diamonds; hence the term Unflattened Metal.

Strand Width – Width of 1 strand.

Strand Thickness – Gauge thickness of strand.

Bond Edge – Part produced with closed diamonds.

Random Sheared Edge – The shearing operation produces an “open” or random edge.

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Auxiliary Operations – In-line slitting can be provided holding tolerances as + -.005 inch.  Circle shearing, edge flattening and bending are also available.

Squareness – An expanded metal blank will be square to within the largest tolerance of length or width.  (Example) Part size 24″  (+-1/32) LWD x 24″ (+-1/16)  SWD will be square to within 1/16″.