Why Use Perforated Metal Sheets?
Posted on: 18 June 2020
If you want to install non-solid metal sheets in or on your factory, then you need to choose a type of sheeting. While you can use expanded metals, it sometimes makes better sense to go for perforated products. What are the benefits of taking this route?
Get More Design Flexibility
When you create expanded metal sheets, you make cuts in the metal and then stretch it out. As the metal stretches, the cuts expand to create a type of wire mesh. While effective in some situations, you have limited design choices here.
On the other hand, you can tailor perforated sheets to meet your design specifications much more easily. The holes that turn the metal into a mesh can be virtually any shape. For example, you can punch out round, square or diamond shapes. You can even use different shapes together or create bespoke perforations.
You also get more choice in the layout of the perforations. As well as going for a uniform design of straight rows, you can also stagger the holes to create a different or even completely random layout.
The fact that you're punching perforations into the sheet rather than stretching it may also give you more choice over how thick your sheets are after they're manufactured. If you use expanded metals, you have to work out how much depth the sheet will lose when it is stretched; perforated sheets don't change size or shape.
Get More Knock-on Benefits
Perforated metal sheets also have useful usage benefits that you won't always get from expanded products. They can act as barriers and filters in both production processes and in certain environmental conditions.
For example, if you need to filter something out of a raw product during a manufacturing process, then you can easily set up a perforated sheet to do this. You size the holes in the sheet so that they remove unwanted parts and let the rest go through to the next stage. This is harder to do with expanded metal products.
Perforated sheets also have good environmental filtering capabilities. While expanded metal sheets can be used to filter out light, perforated sheets can also filter out or dampen sound. This can be useful on an external or internal basis, say if you use sheets as wall claddings.
For more information on using perforated metal sheets instead of other options, contact sheet manufacturers and ask to see examples of their products.
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