Each sheet is expanded in the regular form and then passed through a cold rolled reducing mill. In this process the length of the sheet is elongated - usually about 5% - but the width of the sheet remains the same. The sheet is then sent through a leveler to maintain its flatness.


Flattened Expanded Metal is Regular Expanded Metal that has been passed through flattening rolls (cold rolled). This rolling process reduces the thickness of the sheet, stretches the pattern of the sheet, and provides a smooth flat finish.

Regular Expanded Metal is a finished product as it comes from the press after having been die cut and expanded. Each sheet that comes off the expander is in standard or regular form with the junctions at the strands and bonds forming a ridge surface.
Typical applications include safety guards on various pieces of equipment or machinery.

The illustration to the right shows that the strands and bonds form a sharp angle to the original plane of the solid sheet.


Regular Expanded Metal is an open mesh, finished product that is simultaneously die-cut and expanded as it moves through progressive dies on a press. In the expanding process, the metal can be expanded up to ten times its original size, lose up 80% of its original weight per square foot, and still retain form and rigidity.