Standard Expanded Metal:

Expanded metal as it comes off the machine is referred to as “standard”. The strands and bonds are set at a uniform angle to the plane of the sheet. This adds strength and rigidity, allows air circulation, distributes the load of the metal to the supporting frames, as well as making a skid resistant surface.

Flattened Expanded Metal:

Standard expanded metal sheets are passed through a cold roll reducing mill parallel to the diamond pattern (LWD) to form flattened expanded metal. By flattening the sheet, the bonds and strands are turned down to produce a smooth and flat surface, reducing the overall thickness and elongating the diamond pattern. Cross roll flattening is done by passing the expanded metal sheet through a cold roll reducing mill parallel to the SWD. The result is the same except the diamond pattern SWD is elongated. Material thickness may vary +/- 10% from the published dimensions.