Stretching The Boundaries Of Performance
4 Oct 2006
Such interrelated factors as rising energy costs, concerns regarding conservation of natural resources and ever more complex production processes, along with mankind’s unending desire to innovate, can all be shown to be influencing the increasingly diverse applications to which one of industry’s most familiar materials is being applied.
In fact The Expanded Metal Company believes that recent developments merely represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of the possible uses for a product that is affordable, recyclable and utterly versatile.
When the manufacturer pioneered the slitting and stretching process of expanded metal mesh in 1889 the initial focus and supply of the various gauges during the 19th and early 20th centuries were mainly for agricultural machinery and shows. The manufacturer quickly evolved with emerging markets to supply a number of industries such as construction, shipbuilding, filtration, aerospace and automotive. Now currently working with the hi-tech industries and design focused consultants, exploring the boundaries of what is a truly versatile material its producers argue that it is an underused resource with virtually limitless physical parameters.
What the uninitiated fail to appreciate is that the creation of openings in whatever pattern might be desired, across a sheet of metal does not actually detract from the strength to weight ratio. In fact it enhances this crucial characteristic in one dimension. To address this, the company has undertaken an exacting research programme into the product’s physical properties which has included commissioning an exhaustive series of tests at
Earlier work carried out by
Samples between 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm thick were tested on a Lloyds Instruments M1000K and LR6000R machines using 30 kN and 100 kN load cells utilising samples measuring 100 mm x 60 mm.
Accepted formulae were employed for analysing the data obtained and excluding rogue results, with the spread of figures clearly showing that the expanded metal’s performance is disproportionately superior to the mass of metal present.
To date, expanded sheet steel has been successfully employed by customers in a variety of applications which demonstrably draw on the material’s physical attributes without pushing the boundaries of its potential.
One of the most challenging of these applications has been in the development of new, protective cladding to encapsulate the nuclear industry’s 48Y containment cylinders, used to transport uranium hexafluoride (UFe) by road and rail.
Representing an international consortium, British Nuclear Fuels Limited approached VT to produce a cover that would reduce heat transfer to the cylinders in the event of a sustained fire. A mere 6.5 mm thickness of composite, comprising polyester resin and chopped strand, reinforced with metal mesh (expanded metal ) and silica fabric could meet the requirement for a 50 per cent reduction in heat transfer over a 30 minute exposure to a temperature of 800 degrees centigrade.
As well as consistently withstanding such extreme conditions in the laboratory, the composites were also found to be able to cope with the repeated mechanical handling, while the expanded metal’s low density helped keep the weight for the largest section down to a maximum pf 40 kg.
Some 850 sets of Composite Thermal Protectors have now undergone thousands of cycles of reuse without suffering any undue wear or other ill effects.
Weight saving is becoming more important all the time as national and international legislation is tightened and energy prices rise steadily higher. Accordingly, The Expanded Metal Company is closely involved with researching the structural or load carrying potential of the product which could be of real benefit to the aerospace as well the automotive industry.
The general rule of thumb in car design is that if weight can be reduced by 10 per cent, this will be rewarded with a 5.5 per cent improvement in fuel economy. Aviation companies are even keener to cut payloads.
In many instances where volume car manufacturers are concerned, beneath the body shell itself, sheet steel is primarily utilised to provide something to screw a fixing into. It does not need to be a solid piece of metal across its whole area. While it is routine for sizeable cut-outs to be incorporated to save weight, there is also a class of expanded metal referred to as selvedge, where the machine produces an area of blank metal. But now The Expanded Metal Company is about to bring on line new equipment which can fabricate product with multiple alternate areas of blank and expanded steel.
This raises the viability of the customer specifying product runs with sections of solid metal only where they want to achieve a fixing while the weight across the rest of the panel is reduced by two thirds.
Such is the adaptability of The Expanded Metal Company’s equipment that it can also provide clients with a staggering choice of bespoke sheet products. This means not only offering made to measure sheet sizes to optimise production yield, but also gauges running from the finest gauze up to 50 mm thick metal. Different shapes and patterns of openings (square, circular, diamond etc.,) are also possible while the manufacturer has even processed mesh the product out from precious metals such as platinum and gold for special orders.
The Expanded Metal Company has taken the basic utilitarian product - relied on for so long to provide strength and flexibility in construction - and is now assisting in the delivery of new dimensions in terms of industrial engineering applications. Wholeheartedly committed to product development it is now going on to commission load and impact tests, so that type approvals can be gained for expanded metal’s inclusion as full structural elements to cars and other assemblies such as the many new modules making an impact in off-site manufacturing for the construction industry.
For further information please contact Andy Foster, Head of Marketing, The Expanded Metal Company, PO Box 14, Longhill Industrial Estate (North),
To enquire about having your company products in this section please click here
