dwg AVX-1806 · Products
One sheet. No welds. No waste.
Expanded metal is a single sheet that has been slit in offset rows and stretched open in one press operation into a lattice of diamond-shaped apertures. No material is removed and nothing is welded: the strands and the bonds between them are the original sheet, pulled apart, so the panel cannot unravel and has no joint to break. The geometry is directional — the diamond is longer across one axis than the other — so an expanded panel holds its stiffness and its calculated load only when it is orientated, supported and spanned the way it was designed for.
Also known as: expanded mesh · expanded metal sheet · diamond mesh · expanded metal grating · flattened expanded metal · stretched metal
The platform passes the drawing and fails underfoot. It springs at midspan, a panel drums under a trolley wheel, a guard bows the first time somebody leans on it. Usually nothing was wrong with the material. The clear span grew by 200 mm during fabrication, or a panel was turned ninety degrees to get one more out of the sheet — and a diamond that is stiff in one direction was quietly asked to work in the other.
We supply expanded metal in steel, stainless and aluminium: raised or flattened, cut to size, framed or formed to your drawing. Send the finished panel sizes together with the span and the load case, not only the mesh you have in mind. If the drawing exists we work from it; if it does not, we draw it. Availability and lead time are confirmed at quotation, per material, thickness and mesh.
Most of the confusion in an expanded-metal enquiry sits in four numbers. LWM, SWM, strand width and sheet thickness are quoted in a different order by almost every supplier, and the mesh dimensions are measured bond centre to bond centre — not across the opening you can see. Flattening moves them again: rolling the strands level stretches the sheet, opens the diamond and takes a fraction off the thickness. Label the four figures on your enquiry and say whether they apply raised or flattened. It costs one line and removes the most common cause of a wrong panel.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| LWM × SWM × strand width × sheet thickness (e.g. 43 × 13 × 3 × 2 mm) — the order differs per supplier, so label the figures | |
| ≈ 5–150 mm, bond centre to bond centre (standard range); micro-expanded runs finer, heavy grating coarser | |
| ≈ 2–60 mm (standard range, finer on request); the free opening is smaller | |
| ≈ 1–8 mm (standard range); sets open area and load-carrying section together with the mesh | |
| ≈ 0.4–6 mm (standard range); heavier gauges on request | |
| raised (as expanded) or flattened (rolled level — sheet stretches, thickness drops) | |
| typically 30–80 %, following from mesh and strand width | |
| e.g. 28 × 10 × 2 × 1.5, 43 × 13 × 3 × 2, 62 × 22 × 3 × 2, 76 × 28 × 5 × 3 mm — widely used patterns, roughly 55–75 % open on the flat projection; a starting point for identifying material, not a stock list | |
| commonly 1000 × 2000, 1250 × 2500 and 1500 × 3000 mm; which format runs depends on material and mesh — cut to size, framed panels and coil on request | |
| steel (mill finish, hot-dip galvanised or coated), 304/316L, aluminium; copper, brass and titanium on request |
Values shown are standard industry ranges for expanded metal, not a commitment. Mesh dimensions, strand width, sheet thickness, form and format are confirmed per application after technical review, and load-bearing panels are calculated for your span, support condition and load case — no figure on this page is a permissible load.
LWM, SWM, strand width, sheet thickness. Write them with their labels rather than as a bare string of digits, because the order is not standardised across the market. Add whether the mesh dimensions are the raised or the flattened figures. Measuring an existing panel yourself? Span ten cells and divide, never one. One labelled line prevents the most expensive misunderstanding in this product.
Raised is the panel as it leaves the expanding press: strands at an angle, grip underfoot, more stiffness per kilo. Flattened is that panel rolled level — a flat face for mounting, coating and cleaning, no sharp raised edge, slightly thinner and slightly less stiff. Decide on the function of the surface, then give the mesh dimensions that belong to it.
Load capacity is a calculation, never an assumption. Give us the clear span, how many sides are supported, the load — distributed, point or wheel — and the deflection you are allowed to have. Give the orientation as well, or accept the one we specify: the same panel carries markedly more in one axis than in the other, and a figure lifted from a load table is valid only for the span direction that table assumed.
Steel hot-dip galvanised after expanding is the durable route outdoors, because the coating reaches the faces created during expansion. Stainless where the environment or hygiene asks for it, aluminium where weight decides. The weak point in every version is a cut made after coating. Tell us whether panels are cut on site and whether raised material needs an edge frame — the diamond leaves a sharp profile that people handle.
Standard in mild steel: mill finish, hot-dip galvanised after expanding, or powder-coated. Stainless 304 for ordinary exposure and 316L where chlorides are in play. Aluminium in the common structural grades where weight matters. Copper, brass, titanium and Duplex are possible for specific duties. Not every mesh geometry exists in every material and thickness — the combination of material, thickness and mesh has to be chosen together rather than picked from three separate lists. Material certificates to EN 10204 3.1 on request. Availability and lead time for the less common materials are confirmed at quotation.
What happens to the material. Perforating punches holes out and the slugs are scrap; expanding slits the sheet and pulls it open, so nothing is removed and one square metre of sheet becomes considerably more than one square metre of mesh. Nothing goes to scrap as punch-outs and the strands stay continuous — the open surface comes from stretching the material, not from removing it. Perforated sheet is levelled flat, holds a round or slotted pattern and reads calmer on a facade; expanded metal is stiffer for its weight and, unless flattened, has a raised profile that grips.
LWM is the long way of the mesh: the long diagonal of the diamond, measured from the centre of one bond to the centre of the next. SWM is the short way, the short diagonal. The same dimensions are also written LWD and SWD — long and short way of the diamond. Two traps follow. Both are bond centre to bond centre, not the opening you can see, so the free aperture is always smaller than the SWM figure. And because suppliers list the four figures in different orders, a designation without labels is a guess. Measuring a panel you already have is the same job in reverse: span ten bonds in each direction and divide by ten — a single cell is too small to read accurately — then take the strand width and the sheet thickness with a caliper.
Raised is the sheet as expanded, with the strands standing at an angle: grip underfoot and more stiffness for the same weight. Flattened is that sheet rolled level afterwards. Flattening buys a flat face for mounting, coating, cleaning and printing and removes the sharp raised edge, at the cost of a little thickness and some stiffness. It also stretches the panel, so the mesh dimensions of a flattened sheet differ from the raised one it came from. State which of the two your figures describe.
Only a calculation answers that. Capacity follows from the clear span, the number of supported sides, the mesh and strand geometry, the material, the deflection limit — and the orientation, because the panel is directional. Never take a number from a load table without checking which span direction that table assumed. Send the span, the support condition and the load case, distributed, point or wheel, and the panel is specified against your case rather than against a catalogue line.
Typically 30 to 80 %, and it is a consequence of the geometry rather than something ordered separately: larger mesh and narrower strands mean more open area and less metal left to carry the load. Two caveats. Open area is measured on the flat projection, so for raised material the free area for air or light at an angle is lower than the figure suggests. And when you size airflow, drainage or a retention limit, the free aperture is the number you need — not the SWM dimension.
It has no welds to fail, which is the honest part of that claim. Every strand is continuous parent material, so a panel cannot lose a joint and open up, and there is no heat-affected zone at the crossings. Whether it carries more load is a different question and depends on the case: welded mesh gives an orthogonal square grid and a flat surface, expanded metal gives stiffness for its weight and a diagonal load path. Send the span and the load and the comparison can be made properly.
Steel hot-dip galvanised after expanding is the usual answer, because the coating also reaches the faces created when the sheet was opened; on pre-galvanised sheet those faces stay bare metal. Stainless 304 handles ordinary outdoor exposure; 316L is what chlorides call for, from coastal air, road salt or cleaning agents. Aluminium where weight decides. In every version the weak point is a cut made after coating: that edge is bare metal in the wettest place on the panel. Tell us where panels are cut and the edge treatment is specified with the part.
Material and thickness, the mesh with its four figures labelled and marked raised or flattened, the finished panel sizes and the quantity. For anything load-bearing, add the clear span, the support condition, the load case and the deflection limit. Tell us whether panels are framed, folded or rolled, and whether they are cut on site. A DXF or a dimensioned sketch is enough; if the drawing does not exist, we draw it.
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