Only the imagination sets limits for the use of expanded metal. Expanded metal is a very versatile product that has a wide range of use in many areas and business sectors. Throughout the years we have delivered expanded metal that has been used in most varying products, e.g. pedestrian walkways, gridrollers, chairs, fuel filters, shelves, window grids, and much more.
Filter
Expanded metal is used in many types of filters. We deliver expanded metal to companies that produce filters for restaurant kitchens and various industries. Since it is possible to make expanded metal with virtually any size of mesh, the expanded metal can be used for most types of filters, regardless if it is filters for air, liquids or even radio- and sound waves. Building and design Expanded metal is a very versatile product that can be used for both exterior and interior details, however large or small the building project may be. We have delivered expanded metal to large airport terminals, shop interiors in exclusive stores, and even for pieces of art! The expanded metal can be customised to suit your needs through the selection of material, form and colour.
Consumer products
Expanded metal is used in a lot of products we don’t even think about. We have delivered expanded metal for use in chairs, gridrollers, stoves, pencil-holders, microphone covers, dustbins – just to mention a few. Chances are that you already have at home a product made from expanded metal.
Want to know more?
If you would like to have more examples of of how you can use expanded metal in your products, don’t hesitate to contact us to discuss a solution that suits your needs.
For what and how can you use expanded metal?
Expandermetall in Ydre have been working in stretching different metals in to different dimensions of mesh since 1972, the company have great and unique expertise in expanded metal.
Today, the company is in its third generation and supply expanded metal to customers throughout Sweden. We supply expanded metal to industries in Denmark, Norway and Finland. We also export expanded metal to countries within EU such as Germany, Greece and the UK.
When you are in the manufacturing industry, it can easily be that you use the same material year after year without really thinking about material choices for your product. Expanded metal is a product with many different uses and can be applied in many different products and in many varieties. Choosing the material for your product can be a bit tricky, the issues are many and in many cases you will find more answers then questions. Benefits of using expanded metal is mainly to eliminate waste because you do not cut away any material from the raw material in the manufacturing process. Expanded metal is produced by a machine that punches a cut in the material and at the same time stretches it out and then you get something called a mesh or as many call it, a net. It won’t give you any joints, which in turn provides a mechanical and electrical stability. The material haven’t got any knots, which in turn gives less risk of cracking. The material is not flammable, it does not absorb any liquids which makes the product suitable for use in engine rooms on vehicles, boats and ships. If you need a good and non-flammable material for your engine room, the expanded metal is perfect for this purpose. The material is low priced compared to perforated metal and is frequently used electrochemically in the vehicle industry, but also in many mechanical solutions such as engine rooms and on different cargo carriers.
Which metals are suitable for expanded metal?
What materials can you use to make expanded metal? You can produce expanded metal of many different metals. You can sheet metal, copper, titanium, aluminum, stainless steel and nickel but also various composite products is used or manufactured for a range of products where the different materials are presented. Mostly you stretch untreated metals which is on a roll or from metal sheets. Expanded metal can steer, clean and slow down air. You can also use it to arm, isolate and protect buildings. For the aesthetic the material can be varnished and polished. Some metals can also be tumbled to remove sharp edges from the material and at the same time get a hygienic and aesthetic surface. Tumbled materials are used in the dental surgery, the production of speaker grilles, parts cleaner and in the electrical industry.
Stretching of plastic
Just as you can stretch the metal, you can also stretch the plastic. In the area of stretched plastic, you can think about what and who uses stretched plastic.
Environmental aspects
Expanded metal is an economical and very environmentally friendly, because you do not get any overflow from the production itself, which eliminated not only the environment but you will also lower the costs that you can use for other things than to throw away the material waste, which in turn has an impact on environment.
Remember that expanded metal is recycled to 100%. Combined with that there is no significant substances in the manufacturing. That makes it the ultimate material for use in manufacturing. Expanded metal becomes an attractive material to use as we move towards more environmentally conscious and sustainable communities to live in. What we produce will be sorted and recycled to not intrude on the environment.
Using a environmental friendly product as the expanded metal is, also creates advantages when designing houses or buildings or in other public places. Important to remember is that the material is solid and is not welded or some composite materials put together. Expanded metal is 100% raw material from steel and other metals. The environmental aspect of expanded metal is multiple, the material is 100% recyclable but another important aspect is that the material waste during the production itself is equal to zero. Benefits of using the material is that it is a low price because you get a larger open area compared the amount of material. Nickel mesh is used in the production of hydrogen gas. Nickel mesh and expanded metal of copper are also included in batteries.
Construction & Design
Expanded metal is currently used in several different areas, there is trends in the material. There is a new trend in architecture, using expanded metal to design, several buildings have cladding in expanded metal. There are many advantages to use the material in the building. The main aspect is perhaps the risk of fire. Expanded metal does not burn, making it a very good fire-resistant building material which makes the material attractive from a fire safety aspect. In contrast to the many different composite materials currently used in the building industry. There are lots of different composite materials that are flammable such as sheet metal and styrofoam. Eliminate fire hazards by replacing some building materials to the expanded metal that is completely solid metal and the material is not flammable.
It is mainly the large meshed material that is used for designing buildings. When using the expanded metal for construction or cladding, it is exciting to work together with lighting on the material to achieve a sleek and modern wall as the combination of expanded metal and the light provides. Perhaps the expanded metal will be used for building and cladding many years to come. Although the material is mostly used for building and cladding, many architectures started with drawing and designing indoor environments with expanded metal in many different varieties and different mesh sizes.
Colour choices of the material is endless and that combined with the choices of patterns only leaves the imagination as a limit to how you can use expanded metal.
If we continue to talk about what the expanded metal can do in construction and architecture, imagine a nice balcony and abandon the traditional stiffness and give the balcony a better looking design with expanded metal. Put lights on the balcony and the success of designing a balcony railing in the expanded metal is a fact. When the colour choices and the mesh size of the material is virtually unlimited so there is no obstacle to your own designed balcony. Material choices are as many as you can order patterns depending on which term you use in your daily work. Nice balcony railings in expanded metal gives life and a softer image, it is also an innovation to apply new format on your balcony railings.
The usage of expanded metal in design, there are many different places the material comes in handy. It is perfectly possible to shape the material, which means that the usage in design and industrial design significantly increases. You will get an insight and suggestions for uses of expanded metal in both industrial design and architecture.
Through our unique skills that we have gained since the start of the company in 1972, we can also guide you as a designer and give suggestions on what materials can be used for your intended product.
Screen walls, acoustic control and sound absorbersA neat product to produce is screen walls or sound absorbers and other products for noise reduction in expanded metal, do not let the material limit yourself! The material is an excellent fit for a range of products or designer in the area, where you can do some acoustic control. Expanded metal is so unique that you can, in advance, determine using the mesh of the material where you select a specific hole pattern and position of holes for reducing certain types of sound without needing additional absorbers or filling material to make it work without problems. We have extensive experience in the use of expanded metal and we will help you answer questions about sound and acoustics issues and how to optimally use expanded metal for that purpose. Unleash your imagination and draw the fancy screens and acoustic panels with expanded metal as a main ingredient in your creation of your new product. Put colour to your expanded metal and think about whether you can apply light on your product to create life and focus on parts from the beautiful mesh of the metal. Expanded metal is superior relative to the perforated plate, since the expanded metal achieves a significantly larger open area relative to product price. Well worth noting is the different blinds effects that you get from the material. Do you want to counter sunlight, letting in light or entirely cut off from certain types of light, the material will give you the blind effect you want. Also, the blind effect can be used to direct air or liquids. The blind effect in expanded metal is also widely used for confidentiality where different placement of the mesh will give you the effect you want.
Stairs and Platforms
Stairs, platforms and steps are available in many different formats and sizes, whether it is a indoor stair or a great platform for outdoor use expanded metal is a good choice of material for production. If you build spiral staircases, platforms or maisonette stairs, choose a material that is both strong and works in any weather. The strength is achieved by twisting the material when meshes is formed, giving a unique strength to the material when it is stretched. When you are building stairs and platforms the design is a big part of the production but you also have to weigh in practical things. Expanded Metal gives you both a unique strength and design. When you are making platforms and stairs, the non-slip function is an important factor, with expanded metal the slip protection is built in the material right from the start. Last but not least, expanded metal is also aesthetically beautiful to look at. Build a staircase or a platform in expanded metal, and it will be popular among your customers.
Design a bench for public spaces
Have you been commissioned to design a new park bench or benches for public spaces. A bench must be both beautiful and keep a high quality. Expanded metal give you another dimension to your creativity, choices of meshes gives openings about how you should design your park bench or other furniture for public spaces. Do not limit yourself when you design with expanded metal. Unleash your imagination and create environmentally and sustainable park benches and other furniture for public spaces.
Protection against burglary
Most burglaries taking place today is done by crushing a window to access what they want to steal. Finding solutions for protection against burglary without cutting down on function or design can be difficult. With expanded metal as a base, you can design and produce many different proposed solutions in terms of window grills to protect against burglary. Do you use materials for burglary, this is a good choice. Because expanded metal is in one piece, it helps to slow down the burglar when the burglar must cut mesh by mesh, and time is not something a burglar have. The effect of this is that the expanded metal helps eliminate break-in attempts when the time for the actual break-in is massively increased.
You can select the mesh after which natural light you want. There are many advantages to use expanded metal in the creation of anti-burglary products. Mainly the ability for designing, but also that the material is fixed in one piece without welds that burglars do not have time to clip or cut makes it a good option to use for manufacturing anti-burglary products.
Fire guards can be very beautiful with the right material
A fire guard is a must at the fireplace to protect against sparks. A fire guard must be smartly designed to unleash the radiant heat and the glorious light that an open fire gives. With these requirements expanded metal is an ideal material to use. Its versatility enables you to pick up many different models, also thinking of the cosiness an open fire offers. If you design with expanded metal as a base you will get many of the important factors that a fire guard should have. Unleash your creative ability and let nothing stop you when you are designing. Expanded metal will help you a long way in shaping a new fire guard.
What opportunities for Decoration?
It’s only your imagination that set the limits on how you can use expanded metal for decoration, also add the different materials that can produce expanded metal. The choices are many and the possibilities are multiple. Decoration is a broad concept, but to highlight the expanded metal as a natural base of your creation can give you unimaginable advantage to decorate nicely and successfully, whether the decoration consists of a display window of a store, or to decorate a checkout counter. This is how new ideas can be obtained with new thinking and new materials that expanded metal might be for you. Also add the different choices of metal, as well as patterns or mesh sizes and the success can be a fact. Decorate successfully by good choice of base materials.
Speaker grilles
Stylish speakers should also have great looking grilles and what fits better than expanded metal, you can get the material electro polished or tumbled giving a stylish aesthetic effect. Whatever the size of the speaker, it may be aesthetically good with expandable metal or expanded metal. Consider the design and do not be limited to how you can design a speaker grill or protection. Expanded metal is perfectly possible to shape without having to process the material. It is possible to manufacture expanded metal of solid copper and your speaker grilles will end up in the spotlight with this choice of material. Better looking products you can obtain by using electro-polished or tumbled expanded metal for the making of speaker grilles or microphone socks. The most common material used today for microphone socks is expanded metal in many different colour combinations and different treatment of the material.
Nice sculptures
Regardless of what type of sculptures you manufacture, selecting the right material is a critical factor to what final result you’ll get. Now, we are not saying that expanded metal comes as a messiah, but the expanded metal is well worth evaluating if it would help you make your sculpture both stylish to look at, but also designed in a way that makes it a delight for the eye. Producing sculptures are imaginative and expanded metal can help you a long way to reach your goals and to get a good end result. With a sense of imagination and a good material as expanded metal your sculptures have reached a new looks.
Ceilings
It is possible to manufacture stylish and practical ceilings and other roof coverings of expanded metal, the choices are multiple depending on colour selection and the mesh you choose to have on your ceiling. It also provides a great advantage when it is perfectly possible to put through sprinklers, ventilation and sound. We have been manufacturing expanded metal for many different ceilings and can guide, give tips and ideas on what could be both stylish and give practical advice about lighting and sound on your ceiling. A ceiling made of expanded metal can be both stylish, but above all give very robust ceilings of expanded metal. It also provides life with its meshes to an otherwise boring ceiling. Use the material as roofing and you will get a stylish and robust but different roof that attracts attention. A ceiling in expanded metal is strong and robust and can take rough handling and is also protects against knocks and ugly marks.
Bottle rack
Should you have an idea for a neat bottle rack that should be in the kitchen? Let your imagination run wild and shape with expanded metal. The possibility of many mesh sizes and different metals gives you virtually unlimited opportunities to shape a stylish bottle rack. Also, do not determine the colours, you can almost get any colour you want on the material. Also add that you can get the expanded metal completely flat enables you to have more different ideas on how you can get your final product to look like.
Shoe Rack
A shoe rack don’t need to be stiff and boring, are you a designer and want suggestions on material selection for your shoe rack, you can use expanded metal with great imagination and as a base material for your design, do not limit the possibilities nor the size of your product. With expanded metal you can shape it the way you want. Also plan for lighting with some stylish led lights that are built in. Expanded metal and lighting is a good combination and highlights your design on an exciting and good way.
Clothing baskets and other clever solutions for storage
Compact living or living in less space requires sustainable and good materials to manufacture products. The smaller the area is, the greater demands on storage and clever solutions for example clothes baskets. Expanded metal fits perfectly to manufacture products for compact living and that’s what it’s about in all the new homes being built today, depending on smaller and smarter storage solutions where design and quality go hand in hand.
Shopfitting, inner ceilings and metal ceilings in shops and stores
Fast, Neat and selling! In order to increase sales in your store or retail chain requires good and smart solutions to attract customers to buy more during their stay in the store. Trendy ceiling in expanded metal gives an incredible feeling, nice and cosy. A ceiling or metal roof in expanded metal provides space in the store but also the important cosiness and the possibilities of light and sound in a lovely combination. In order to partition and create selling retail environments is the latest fashion of using expanded metal as a material. Ceiling in expanded metal provides many opportunities with all meshes or mesh sizes to choose from. The material also gives a sense of being robust and best of all, the store decor is 100% recyclable, given that the ceiling is made from solid recycled material. Metal roofs and formations for roofing in expanded metal is not only for the looks, it creates a wonderful acoustics with a metal roof. The roof is made of metal which is then stretched gets invisible joints and is easy to mount in cassettes and ceilings and on the walls, both inside stores and coffee shops or other public places who want a fresh new design and a clean modern look . There is a fashion in shop fittings, and right now ceilings and metal roofs is on the rise, these materials will give new life to once again become fashionable, stylish and attractive shops. There are other benefits to manufacture shop fittings of expanded metal, it does not prevent ventilation, and it is possible to get a good and pleasant light, but also from a fire safety hazard when the material is made from solid steel, it is possible for example to sprinkle through the roof by existing sprinklers need not to be moved to the new ceiling. Furthermore, you can hang signs and other store fittings in the metal roof. You will get more than just the benefit of a good looking ceiling. In stores with high sound levels the roof of metal helps to reduce this to a comfortable level. You lower the sound by selecting meshes to get the sound level you want.
Where and how can you use the expanded metal product manufacturing?The use of expanded metal at the product manufacturing can have its advantages, we thought to present a range of products where you can use expanded metal.
Filter Manufacturing and Ventilation and strainers
At the filter manufacturing and production of strainers you can use expanded metal for the manufacture of the filter housing that you can filter both liquids and other materials through.
The use of expanded metal in the production of filters and filter manufacturing has many advantages, one major advantage is that it becomes very strong, that it is not as flexible or lose if you compare it to the wire cloth. But also because it’s possible to stretch the material to very fine mesh that can fit into some filters depending on which permeability you need. Expanded metal is perfectly acceptable to use for the production of water filters, oil filters, gas filters, diesel filters, strainers, and not least as an burglar protection in diesel tanks. Expanded metal is already used for a variety of filter holders, filters and filter housings and the material is perfectly acceptable to punch, squeeze and shape for your production of filter types. There is also the use of the material in air filters available in many different varieties, not only for air purification but also for the use of fans at caterers and other extraction at snack bars and restaurants. Another product that is close to the filter is the grilles and expanded metal is used a lot for that purpose today. Stylish and practical ventilation grills manufactured by flat rolled expanded metal. They are holding the inner filter in place and the material used for this is mainly stainless steel.
Manufacturing of fan protection
Fan protections is available in a large variety and some fan protections are visible while some are not. In the manufacture of fan protection, you can use a variety of materials, but the expanded metal in the manufacturing enables you to have an attractive and durable fan cover. A big advantage you can benefit from is that with expanded metal, you will not have material spill. Which in turn gives a financial advantage as you will not receive any material spills.
Guardrails
Guardrails can be seen everywhere in different formats and designs. Move your boundaries and make great guardrails using expanded metal. Guardrails is used on balconies, vantage points and as a protection in the industry. Producing beautiful guardrails do not have to be complicated, expanded metal helps you forward to establishing sustainable guardrails of high quality.
Humidifiers
Humidifiers are visible and are often in different offices. Producing practical humidifier which also includes parts of expanded metal makes your manufacturing process smooth, but also that you get a humidifier as many customers find attractive and that many want to buy. You can use the expanded metal to your humidifier as both protection for exhaust, but also design it stylish. The versatility with expanded metal gives you extensive options in your request of humidifiers and other products you will manufacture and sell.
Drying Rack
If you are going to make a drying rack it is not only the quality that is important, but also the appearance and shape. The more attractive drying rack you produce the more you can get paid when you sell your product. By using expanded metal as materials it broadens your opportunities for a neat and stylish design on your drying rack. The quality of the product increases by getting the material into a solid piece. Expanded metal is stretched without material waste so the choice is yours! Use expanded metal because it’s neat and economical and fits very well with furniture design as well as it fits into other products.
Office Products
Office products such as pen holders, letter trays, and office shelving can have major benefits in terms of pure design. Office products and office furniture that includes expanded metal get both quality and design advantages. Expanded metal is beautiful, and the products you make from it turns out very nice. Storage baskets in expanded metal are common and properly designed, these can become very desirable at the office.
Modern livestock farming requires good solutions
Stables, horse boxes, fences and other animal boxes require robust solutions for the separation or where they are herding cows, pigs, sheep or other animals occurring in agriculture. Expanded metal is a very good material for the manufacturing of animal housing. On horse farms, you can separate stalls with expanded metal and make it look really good. Manufacturing mobile fencing and barn separator, the choice of material can be crucial to how well your product will be accepted in the market. In agriculture, there is talk about protection and fencing of many different kinds, and there is obviously a place for expanded metal to become a natural material to put into the production of agricultural products.
Expanded metal to diverting electricity in case of hypersensitivity or allergy to electricity
Expanded metal with small meshes diverts electricity and is excellent to build into bedrooms where people allergic to electricity must reside or sleep. The meshes in the expanded metal does not only distracts the magnetic field but also radio waves from cell phones or other types of radio waves that travel through the air. Are you suffering from electrical hypersensitivity you can enclose parts of your home with expanded metal, you will totally be parted from magnetic fields such as radio waves and other electronic equipment. The material does not need to be visible for it to work, it is just as easy to build it into the wall so it remains 100 percent invisible, but it will affect its function. Expanded metal is also used in various applications and products where some elements of such a machine should divert magnetism without the need to build expensive high-end solutions. By using expanded metal to deflect hypersensitivity to electricity and other magnetic radio waves you can with great advantage examine how it could affect you in the home or if the material would help in addressing the problem of radio waves or electricity. The function of the material is a form of isolation and shut out these electric fields and radio waves.
Good materials for the manufacturing of trailers
In the manufacturing of trailers, for both passenger cars and heavy commercial vehicles may require expanded metal materials. It may be useful to fabricate tailgates, protective devices, access ramps, mesh gates to trailers, truck tailgates, and other carriers in automotive manufacturing. That expanded metal is good is just the excellence of use and that you get the best of both worlds. You get both functionality and appearance as the design of your products. Today the material is used extensively in a variety of manufacturing areas in the automotive industry.
Expanded metal for electrochemical industry
In the electrochemical industry, they use expanded metal for energy accumulators, but also water purification, water treatment processes and cathodic anti corrosion methods. Within the concept of electrochemistry material used for the interaction between electrical and chemical processes.
