Wire Cloth: What Is It? How Is It Used? Materials, Types

Author: Ruby

Apr. 29, 2024

Wire Cloth: What Is It? How Is It Used? Materials, Types

Wire Cloth

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Introduction

This article provides a detailed look at wire cloth.

You will learn:

  • What is Wire Cloth?
  • What is Wire Cloth Made Of?
  • Applications and Uses of Wire Cloth
  • How is Wire Cloth Made?
  • Wire Cloth Grades and Industrial Applications
  • Wire Cloth Fabrication, Secondary Processing or Value Added Services, and Accessories
  • And much more …

Chapter 1: What is Wire Cloth?

Wire cloth is a fabric or mesh made by weaving or knitting metal wires together, often used for industrial purposes such as filtration, sieving, or as a barrier for controlling the flow of substances.

Wire cloth comes in various mesh sizes and wire diameters, making it suitable for different purposes, including filtering solids from liquids or gases, protecting machinery and equipment, and separating materials based on particle size. It can be made from various metals such as stainless steel, brass, copper, or other alloys, depending on the specific requirements of the application.

Other Names for Wire Cloth

These terms are used interchangeably depending on the context and the specific application of wire cloth.

Wire Mesh

This is one of the most common terms used to refer to wire cloth. It describes a woven or welded fabric made from metallic wires.

Wire cloth is often used as a screen or sieve in various industrial applications, which is why it is also called wire screen.

Wire Fabric

The term "wire fabric" is used to highlight the textile-like nature of wire cloth, as it is made by weaving or welding wires together.

Wire Netting

This term is often used to describe wire cloth when it is used as fencing or for containing animals. It emphasizes the net-like structure of the material.

Wire Grille

Wire cloth is sometimes used in architectural and decorative applications, such as grilles on doors or windows, and is referred to as wire grille.

Chapter 2: What is Wire Cloth Made Of?

Wire mesh and metal cloth are manufactured from a variety of starting materials:

Metal and Alloy Wire

Metal and alloy wire is manufactured in a wire drawing process. In wire drawing, a metal rod or larger wire is pulled through a series of progressively smaller dies to reduce the diameter and produce a smaller diameter wire.

While the process is similar to metal extrusion, the metal is pulled instead of pushed, which limits the reduction in area or diameter. The wire would yield at excessive reductions. Area reductions of 15% to 45% are typical in industrial wire drawing.

Wire drawing imparts a great amount of cold work and strain hardening. The cold work can produce high carbon steel wire with extremely high strengths of 580 Ksi (4000 MPa).


Metal wire is typically round in cross section, but other wire cross section shapes can be produced. Wire can be rolled with smooth rolls after drawing to produce flat wire with rounded edges. Contoured rolls can produce square, rectangular, oval, hexagonal, and triangular shaped wire.

Metal Sheet and Foil Manufacturing

Metal sheet and foil can also be used to make a mesh or screen like material. Metal sheet is produced by cold rolling or squeezing an alloy between steel rolls to thin and cold work the metal sheet. Hot rolling can perform the annealing or recrystallization process during reduction, but the surface finish and tolerance of hot rolled metals are not as good as cold rolled alloys. Depending on the alloy and reduction in area, intermediate annealing steps can be required.

Metal sheet and foil can be slit narrowly to produce ribbons or flat wire like shapes. Metal sheet is also perforated and expanded to produce nonwoven metal cloths such as mesh or screen.

Metallic or Metal Fiber Manufacturing

Metal or metallic fiber are defined as any manufactured fiber consisting solely of a metal or alloy as well as metal coated plastic fibers and plastic coated metal fibers. Metallic fibers are another raw material used to produce wire or metal cloth.

Metallic fibers are finer than most metal wires. Metallic fibers typically have diameters ranging from 1 to 100 microns (0.00004 to 0.004 inches). American Wire Gauge (AWG) sizes range from 40 to 0000 (4/0 or “four aught”) gauge (0.0031 to 0.46 inches).

Metallic fibers are manufactured using several processes:

Bundle drawing

Several thousand wires are packed into a tube. The tube is drawn through a die. The tube is removed by acid etching to extract the metallic fibers. Octagonal fibers are produced with diameters as small as 200 nanometers.

Foil Shaving

Fibers as small as 14 microns are produced using a foil shaving process. Steel wool is cut from wire in a shaving process. Steel wool fibers have a triangular cross-section, which improves cutting and cleaning.

Machining

The machining process can produce stable fibers as small as 10 microns.

Melt Spinning

A stream of molten metal is poured on cooled, spinning copper roll to produce fiber in the range of 40 to 250 microns.

Metallic Coating

Carbon or polymer fibers can be coated with a metal using electrodeposition, electroplating, and thin film deposition (PVD or evaporation).

Monofilaments, Strands and Yarns

In most industrial applications, wire is used as monofilament to weave or weld a wire cloth material. Wires can be twisted together to produce strands or multiple wire bundles.

Strands are also bundled together to produce wire rope. Strand and wire rope are structural elements used to hold up suspension bridges. Some architectural applications use wire cloth constructed with strands and/or wire in areas requiring higher strength or the look of strength.

Metallic fibers can be used directly to make metal cloth. Metallic fibers can also be twisted together to form metallic yarns. Metallic yarn is then woven to produce metal fabrics with a much finer weave than wire cloth. Metallic fiber textiles can provide filtration of finer micron particles. They are also used to make electrical cable, fuel cell electrodes, fire protection, high temperature insulation, EMI/EFI shielding, and composite reinforcement.

Blends or Hybrid Weaves

Blends or hybrid weaves have one metal wire or metal fiber component interwoven with non-metallic fibers, yarns, strands, or monofilaments. Blends or hybrid weaves are utilized in specialized applications where metal or synthetic alone will not suffice. The non-metallic component can include natural fibers (cotton, silk), glass fibers, ceramic fibers, carbon fibers, and synthetic fibers such as polyamide (nylon), polyester, polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), and polyetheretherketone (PEEK).


Wire Metal and Alloy Types

Aluminum

Aluminum is one of the lightest structural metals available. Aluminum is 35% lower in density than steel. Aluminum has high ductility and is easily formed.

Aluminum is more corrosion resistant than steel, especially in the anodized condition. However, aluminum does not have the corrosion resistance of stainless steel. Aluminum is soft and easily abraded or worn.

Aluminum can be useful for architectural or aerospace applications, but the alloy is not useful for filtration or screening powder or solids.

Copper

Copper has very high electrical and thermal conductivity. Of the pure metals, only silver has higher conductivity. The high conductivity makes copper useful for conductive braids, electrodes, and other electrical and shielding applications. The softness and lower tensile strength limit the applications of copper in filtering and screening.

Copper has antimicrobial and anti-fouling properties. Hospitals and medical devices are making increased use of these properties to ensure surface contact by patients and healthcare professionals is safer.

In seawater, copper wire mesh screens will not “foul” or collect barnacles and marine growth. Copper root barrier screens are used to prevent tree roots from digging under sidewalks and pavement. The roots will grow up to the screen and stop.

Copper can be treated to acquire beautiful patina colors for consumer product designs and architectural applications.

Brass

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc. (Zinc additions strengthen copper as well.) Brass is easier to cast and machine than copper and can be easier to work with than pure copper. The further distinction of brass is between high and low brass where high brass has a higher zinc content, which is over 33%. The terms high and low brass are left over from the days when shotgun shells were made out of paper.

Bronze

Bronze is an alloy of copper with tin, silicon, aluminum, lead, chromium, zirconium, and other metals. The alloying additions strengthen and impart specific properties depending on the alloying element. Bronze can be easier to work with than pure copper.

Phosphor bronzes contain tin and a small amount of phosphorus. Phosphor bronze wires are easily woven into very fine mesh screens. Phosphor bronze is stronger and can withstand cold working better than brass. Very fine Fourdrinier wire screen materials for papermaking are typically made from Phosphor bronze.

Bronze can be treated to acquire beautiful patina colors for consumer product designs and architectural applications.

Galvanized steel has a coating of zinc metals to protect the underlying steel wire. Wire is galvanized by a plating process called electrogalvanization or molten zinc dipping. Zinc dip galvanization imparts a thicker layer onto the steel, which can protect the steel for a longer period of time. Woven wire cloth can be made from galvanized steel. Welded wire cloth cannot be made with galvanized steel wire because:

  • The zinc coating will evaporate during welding, resulting in porosity in the weld.
  • The steel in the weld zone and surrounding metal will not have a protective zinc coating. The weld joint must be recoated with zinc.
  • The zinc vapor generated during welding can cause zinc chills when inhaled by welders.

Welded wire mesh is usually galvanized after welding to overcome these problems.

Nickel or Nickel Alloy

Nickel and nickel alloys have outstanding high temperature strength and oxidation resistance properties even at red hot temperatures. Nickel alloys also have excellent corrosion resistance in acid and chemical environments where other metals fail. Nickel alloy mesh, filters, and strainers are used in chemical process and aerospace applications. InconelⓇ and HastelloyⓇ are common nickel based alloys.

Monel is an alloy of copper and nickel, which has excellent corrosion resistance. Monel retains some of the antimicrobial properties of copper. Nickel and monel wire mesh materials are often used in food processing applications.

Stainless Steel

Stainless steel is an alloy of iron with at least 10.5% chromium. Stainless steel forms a passive oxide film immediately after the alloy is cut or ground. The passive chromium oxide layer prevents further corrosion. Nickel additions to stainless steel stabilize the austenite phase, which makes stainless steel highly ductile and formable. Nickel also improves corrosion resistance.

Austenitic stainless steel alloys must have at least 12% chromium and low carbon levels to maintain passivity and corrosion resistance after welding. Welding grades include 304L and 316L stainless steels as well as Columbium stabilized 347 stainless steel. 304L or 18-8 stainless steel has about 18% chromium and 8% nickel. 316L has higher levels of nickel (10–12%) and additions of molybdenum (2–3%). 316L is better for environments with chlorides like saltwater.

Stainless steel wire cloth and metal mesh have applications in chemical processing filters and strainers as well as architectural fabrics for diffusing light and providing ornamentation.

Steel

Low carbon steel is highly formable and is not hardenable by heat treatment. High carbon and alloy steel can be hardened to high strengths and hardness. High carbon steel can be drawn through dies to create ultrahigh strength wire.

Titanium or Titanium Alloy

Titanium has far better corrosion resistance than stainless steel. Titanium’s density is 60% of steel’s density. Titanium has outstanding fatigue strength and a high strength to weight ratio, which makes the metal and its alloys extremely useful for aerospace components.

Titanium’s outstanding corrosion resistance makes the alloy useful in chemical process applications where stainless steels fall short: seawater and other chloride salt solutions, hypochlorite, wet chlorine, nitric acid, and even fuming acids.

Titanium has better biocompatibility than stainless steel. A woven titanium mesh would be a better choice for implant applications.

Chapter 3: Applications and Uses of Wire Cloth

Here are some common uses for different types of wire cloth:

  • Filtration: Wire cloths with precise mesh sizes and materials are used in filtration applications to separate solids from liquids or gases. This includes applications like water treatment, oil filtration, and air purification.
  • Screening and Sifting: Wire cloths with varying mesh sizes are used for screening and sifting applications. They are often found in industries such as agriculture (for grain separation), mining (for ore sorting), and food processing (for particle separation).
  • Vibrating Screens: Wire cloths designed to withstand high vibrations and heavy loads are used in vibrating screens. These screens are commonly used in the mining, aggregate, and recycling industries for material classification.
  • Security and Safety: Specialized wire cloths are used for security and safety purposes, such as window screens, security fencing, and explosion-proof enclosures.
  • Aerospace: Wire cloths made from high-temperature and corrosion-resistant materials are used in aerospace applications for flame arrestors, spark arrestors, and shielding components.
  • Heat Treatment: Wire cloths made from heat-resistant alloys are used in heat treatment processes to support and contain parts at high temperatures.
  • Architectural and Decorative: Some wire cloth types are used for architectural and decorative purposes, such as facades, interior design, and artistic installations.
  • Paper and Pulp: Wire cloths are used in the paper and pulp industry for forming, pressing, and drying paper sheets. They help control sheet formation and remove excess water.
  • Chemical Processing: Specialized wire cloths are used in chemical processing applications where resistance to chemical corrosion and high temperatures is essential.
  • Oil and Gas: In the oil and gas industry, wire cloths are used for applications like sand control screens, well screens, and filters for downhole tools.
  • Medical and Pharmaceutical: Fine wire cloths are used in medical devices and pharmaceutical equipment for filtration, sieving, and separation processes.
  • Food and Beverage: Wire cloths made from food-grade materials are used in the food and beverage industry for applications like sieving, straining, and filtering.
  • Electronics and Microelectronics: Extremely fine wire cloths are used in electronics and microelectronics for applications like particle separation, etching, and wafer processing.
  • Automotive: Wire cloths can be used in automotive applications, including exhaust system components, filtration, and catalytic converter substrates.
  • Plastics and Rubber Processing: Wire cloths play a role in extrusion processes, where they help shape and cool plastic or rubber products.
  • Pharmaceutical Tablet Coating: Specialized wire cloths are used in tablet coating machines to evenly distribute coatings on pharmaceutical tablets.
  • Battery Production: Wire cloths are used in the production of batteries for applications like electrode coating and separator fabrication.
  • Environmental Control: Wire cloths are used in environmental control systems, such as dust collectors and air pollution control devices.
  • Textile Industry: Wire cloths are used in the textile industry for processes like carding, combing, and cloth inspection.

Leading Manufacturers and Suppliers

    Chapter 4: Wire Cloth Manufacturing

    How is Wire Mesh Made?


    The two major construction types of wire cloth, metal cloth, and wire mesh are:

    Woven Metal Cloth

    Woven metal cloth is made by interlacing two or more sets of wire together, typically at right angles. Warp wires or yarns run parallel to the length of the wire cloth web. The perpendicular or crosswise wires or yarns, called the weft, fill or shute wires or yarns. If a metal fiber yarn is used in place of the wires, then the metal cloth will have a fiber texture and a higher density of fibers with an appearance similar to conventional synthetic fiber cloth. Woven wire mesh has a coarser and more open appearance.

    Nonwoven Wire Cloth

    Nonwoven wire cloth is made by knitting, stitch bonding, welding, expanding (punching + stretching), perforating, electroforming, chemical milling, photochemical etching, and simply laying metallic fibers into felt mat.

    Nonwoven Wire and Metal Cloth Types

    Welded Wire Cloth or Mesh

    Welded wire cloth or mesh is a nonwoven metal cloth or mesh where the wires are welded together. One set of wires runs perpendicular or at an angle to the other set of wires. Welds are formed at the contact points where the wires cross. Welded wire cloth or mesh is sturdier than woven wire cloth. A particle or object can push through a woven screen by moving the wires aside. With welded wire cloth, the openings cannot be widened without breaking the welds. This makes them perfect for applications that feature high pressure and conditions that could damage a woven mesh.

    Sintered Wire Mesh

    Metal wire and metal fibers can be bonded together using a solid state welding or diffusion bonding process. First, the wire is woven, knitted, braided, or laid into a nonwoven batt. The metal mesh or fabric is loaded into a furnace with a protective atmosphere to prevent oxidation during sintering. In the sintering process, surface energy drives diffusion processes, causing a rearrangement of metal atoms.

    Braided Metal or Wire Cloth

    In braided metal or wire cloth, strands, yarns, or wires are interlaced in an alternating zigzag pattern. Three-strand braid patterns are very common and are used to make rope. A wide variety of complex braid patterns are utilized in industry. Braided cloth has a higher degree of flexibility and is more stretchable than woven fabric.

    Metal strands are often flattened or calendered after braiding. Braiding is used to make metal rope, cord, flexible conductive straps, and protective sleeving.

    Protective sleeving is typically braided into a tubular shape. Protective braided metal fiber sleeving is used on the outside or in outer layers of hose, data cables, and electrical cables to provide cut resistance, abrasion resistance, and EMI/RFI shielding.

    Braided copper conductors or copper braids are used to connect conductive electrical power components in applications where there is movement between the conducting parts. Braided copper can handle repeated flexing with work hardened and breaking. Braided copper is also employed when a flexible grounding strap.


    Knitted Metal or Wire Cloth

    Knitted metal cloth is constructed with a series of interlacing loops of wire or yarn. Knitted cloth has a higher degree of flexibility and is more stretchable than woven fabric because the interlaced loops can slide. Warp knitting, weft knitting, and stitch bonding are types of knitting processes.


    Stitch Bonded Metal or Wire Cloth

    Stitch bonding is utilized to make high strength industrial textiles and composite reinforcements for aircraft and wind turbine applications. Stitch bonded fabrics have multiple plies joined or stitched together with a knitting thread.

    Metal Felt and Metal Wool

    Metal wire or fibers can be laid down to form a nonwoven metal fiber batt or mat. Since there is nothing holding the wire or fibers in the mat together, nonwoven metal fiber mats are often entangled with needle punching. In needle punching, a u-shaped forked or barbed needle pierces the nonwoven metal fiber web, then pulls back, resulting in mechanical entanglement. Needle plates with over 100 needles per inch punch fiber batts at 2,000 strokes per minute.


    The processes or metal cloth products described above start with metal wire or metallic fibers to form a mesh or cloth. Expanded metal, perforated metal, and chemically milled mesh are all manufactured from sheet metal as the raw material.

    Expanded Metal

    Expanded metal is manufactured by shearing small slits into a metal sheet, then stretching the material to expand and the slit into openings. Expanded metal tends to have diamond shaped openings. Little to no scrap is generated in making expanded metal.

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    Perforated Metal

    Perforated metal has holes punched using a steel or carbide punch and die set on a high speed punch press. Punching and blanking are low cost methods to rapidly generate holes in metal sheets and plates. The plug cut from the sheet is waste or scrap from the process. Perforated sheet metal has a lower profile (or thinness) than expanded metal, woven wire mesh, and welded wire cloth.


    Chemical Milling and Electroforming

    Chemically milling and electroforming come into their own in producing extremely fine mesh or small hole size products…

    When the wire diameter of wire cloth or hole size of perforated metal becomes too fine or small, these products become difficult to manufacture by weaving and punching. Extremely fine diameter wires and punches would break too easily.

    Chemically Milled Mesh

    Chemically milled mesh is made by coating sheet metal with a masking material. The masking material can be selectively applied through a screen printing process or through photolithography techniques. The areas not protected by the masking material are then chemically etched or removed in an acid bath. Chemical milling can create holes, slots, star-shaped holes, and perforations with complex patterns.


    Electroformed Mesh

    Electroformed mesh is manufactured by electrochemically depositing the mesh material onto a conductive pattern, mold, or mandrel. The pattern or mold materials are later removed by melting, etching, or chemical dissolution. Mesh openings as small as 5 microns are possible with electroforming.

    Electroforming has unique starting raw materials, electro deposition or electroplating chemicals, when compared to other metal mesh or cloth products. Electro deposition or electroplating chemicals consist of ionic aqueous solutions or dissolved salts from the metal being deposited.

    Electroforming can produce more detailed patterns in metals than chemical milling or etching, stamping, and machining. Electroforming has fantastic edge acuity. For instance, edges are almost completely burr free and typically have a variance of less than 0.5 microns.

    The molds or patterns are often produced using photolithography methods. Since electroformed parts are made with a reproducible pattern or mold, the highly detailed complex mesh patterns can be consistently replicated. Electroforming can create intricate shapes impossible to manufacture by other means.

    Woven Wire Cloth Weave Types


    Woven Wire Cloth Weave Types

    Woven wire cloth can employ a wide variety of standard weaves. Many metal cloth manufacturers have proprietary weaves as well. In addition, custom weaves can be designed to meet the needs of demanding industrial applications as well as the aesthetic needs of architectural projects.


    The four most common wire cloth weaves are:

    Plain Weave

    Plain weave or square weave adjacent parallel warp wires alternate running under and then over the cross, fill, or shute wires. An interlacing pattern of plain weave wire cloth is the simplest and most common weave.

    Dutch Weave

    Dutch weave or plain dutch weave is a similar weave pattern to plain weave. However, the warp wire has a much larger diameter than the shute or cross wires. The fill or shute wires are also packed closely together, which make dutch weaves a dense and excellent filtering material.

    Twill Weave

    Twill weaves have two adjacent warp wires running under the shute or fill wire followed by two adjacent shute wires running under the twill or parallel wires. The twill weaving pattern can accommodate large wire diameters for a given wire cloth mesh size. Twill weaves are more flexible than plain weaves using the same wire diameter.

    Dutch Twill Weave

    Dutch twill weaves combine both twill and Dutch weave patterns.

    Some of the less common weaves include:

    Rectangular, Broad, and Oblong Weaves

    Broad and oblong weaves have rectangular openings. They are also known as off-count mesh because the mesh count is not the same in either the parallel warp and crosswise shute directions. Broad weaves have fewer warp wires. Oblong weaves have fewer shute or weft wires.

    Optimized Weaves

    Optimized weaves increase the number of warp or weft wires until they come into contact. They increase filtration efficiency by making smaller apertures while increasing flow rates.

    Reversed Weaves

    Reversed Dutch twill weaves and reversed plain Dutch weaves are examples of reversed weaves. Reversed plain Dutch weaves have more warp wires and fewer shute or weft wires. Reverse weaves have higher strength, which makes them useful for demanding applications where backwashing, filter cake removal, and cleaning processes put mechanical stress on the wire weave.

    Braided or Stranded Weave

    Stranded weave has several strands of wire for each warp and shute wire. The surface of stranded weave looks like Parkay wood flooring.

    5-heddle or 5 Shed Twill Weaves

    5-heddle weaves or 5 shed twill weaves have warp wires passing over four shute wires and under one shute wire. 5-heddle weave patterns have a smooth surface on one side. Filter cakes are easier to remove from the smooth surfaces of 5-heddle weaves.

    3D Weaves and Volumetric Weaves

    3D weaves and volumetric weaves utilize special proprietary weaving technology to provide a 3D-like mesh. 3D and volumetric weaves can have very high volume porosity compared to a conventional media using the same wire diameter, which is excellent for filtration applications. Pressure loss can be reduced in filtering applications as well.

    Multi-Layer Wire Mesh Laminates

    Multi-layer wire mesh laminates have several different mesh layers bonded together through sewing, welding, sintering, fastening, or adhesive bonding. A finer mesh woven cloth can be bonded onto the top of a large diameter wire mesh screen. The larger screen supports the fine mesh during filtration processes, which prevents the fine screen from bowing and breaking.

    Ribbon or Cable Weaves

    Ribbon weaves or cable weaves can refer to warp metal ribbons or flattened wires woven with shute or weft round wires. Weaves with ribbons are useful for facade and wall cladding applications requiring security, privacy, and light diffusion as well as wind and sun protection.

    Cable Mesh Weaves

    Cable mesh is stranded wire woven into a square or diamond pattern. The intersection points can be locked with ferrules, cross clips, bolts, interweaving, and welding.

    Spiral Weaves

    Spiral weaves are woven with wires crimped or formed into a spiral shape. The V-shaped wires are spiral threaded or woven into each other. Spiral weaving is used to make endless process belts and chain link fencing. Spiral woven endless belts can have the interconnected spiral wires as well as additional “shute” rods. Hexagonal wire netting or “poultry netting” is also made through a spiral winding process where the series of spaced wire are twisted at a point, stepped forward, and then reverse twisted. Spiral weaves are also utilized in architectural applications for light diffusion or decorative facades.

    Combination Weaves

    Specialized weaves are made by combining two standardized weave patterns.

    Many additional proprietary and custom weave and woven metal cloth types are possible by varying weaving patterns, wire sizes, wire shapes, and wire materials.

    Woven Wire Mesh Crimp Types

    Woven wire cloth can also use crimped or non-crimped wire. The crimping process makes bends, undulations, or kinks in the wires, which helps to lock the parallel and crosswise wires together. Crimped wire has a wave-like or sawtooth profile. The crimping of wire is typically done before weaving.

    The crimping reduces movement of the wires, which maintains more consistent and accurate openings. A sharp point or awl can be pushed through non-crimped wire mesh more easily than crimped mesh.


    Several types of crimping are possible:

    Non-crimped

    No crimping or pre-crimping of the wire. The wires are free to move. The wire cloth may have more flexibility or give than crimped or welded mesh.

    Pre-Crimp

    Coarser diameter or gauge wire cloth typically uses pre-crimped wire. Pre-crimped mesh is more rigid than non-crimped mesh.

    Lock Crimp

    Lock crimp provides a refined crimp shape, which tightly holds or “locks” the wires at their intersection points.

    Intercrimp, Intermediate Crimp, or Multiple Crimp

    Intercrimp, intermediate Crimp, or multiple crimp wire cloth has more frequent crimps with the intersection of wire at every 3rd, 5th, 7th, etc. crimp. Wire in intercrimp mesh has extra bend or corrugations between intersections. Intercrimping increases rigidity and accuracy when weaving large opening wire mesh with fine wire gauges.

    Flat Top Mesh

    Flat top mesh uses downward crimps or corrugations alternating between the warp and shute wires to provide a flatter surface with fewer undulations.


    Chapter 5: Wire Cloth Size and Opening Specifications



    Metal alloy types, mesh count, wire diameter, percent open area, and weave type are the most common characteristics used to specify metal cloth or wire mesh.

    What are the Main Considerations When Specifying Wire Cloth or Metal Mesh?

    • Application typically determines the selection of key specifications such as spacing, opening size, and mesh count. In some applications, wire cloth is specified by mesh size, and in other applications, by opening size.
    • The construction method, woven versus welded, has the greatest impact on metal cloth strength and durability, with welded wire cloth having superior properties.
    • Within woven wire cloth types, the weave determines strength and durability.
    • Metal or metal alloy selection is mainly determined by:
    • The operating environment (temperature, humidity, wet vs. dry, flames, marine salt spray)
    • Media being processed (wet slurries, dry non-corrosive powders, acids, corrosive chemicals).

    The importance of certain specifications is dependent on the end-use for specific industrial applications. For example:

    • The light transmission properties are important in architectural ceiling and facade applications where the wire cloth is used to provide shade and reduce cooling costs.
    • The weight per unit area (lbs/sq.ft) and strength of the wire cloth can be important in architectural applications where the wire mesh is part of a structure. The structure has to be built to support the weight of the wire mesh architectural fabric.
    • Linear breaking strength can also be a selection factor in filtration applications. The wire cloth must be able to withstand the pressure applied to the cake and wire cloth filter during filtration operations. If the wire cloth is too weak, then filter distortion or breakage can occur.
    • The open area, pore size, percent porosity flow resistance, pore size distribution, water permeability, or air permeability of the wire cloth are selection criteria for wire cloth filters or wire mesh to be used to fabricate filters.
    • If the wire cloth is being employed for EMI or RFI shielding applications, then the magnetic and electrical conductivity of the wire mesh are key selection parameters.

    Wire Diameter or Width

    The diameter of round wire or the width of flat wire or ribbon is one of the key specifications of wire cloth. While some wire cloth manufacturers may specify wire size in terms of “wire gauge” size, this can cause confusion because many different wire gauge systems are used. The wire diameter should be specified using a numerical inch or micron value to eliminate confusion.

    Mesh Size or Wire Count

    The mesh size, wire count, or mesh count is a measure of the number of wires across a unit length, usually a linear inch. Mesh count is measured from wire center to center. Wire mesh cloth with very large openings is specified by the distance between two adjacent wires - 1 inch mesh, 2 inch mesh, ⅝ inch mesh, etc.

    Percent Open Area

    The percent open area of a wire mesh cloth is calculated from the opening width or dimension (W1) between adjacent parallel wires. If the wire cloth has square openings, then the opening area is equal to W1 X W1. If the mesh has a rectangular pattern, then the area is calculated based on W1 x W2.

    The percent open area is calculated by dividing open area by the total area of the wire cloth. In summary:

    • Open Area = Opening Width1 x Opening W2
    • Open Area + Wire Area = Total Area
    • Open Area (%) = Open Area / Total Area

    Opening Size

    The opening size of wire cloth, mesh, or screen is the dimension between two wires. Opening size is measured from wire edge to wire edge, unlike mesh size, which is measured from center to center. Wire cloth openings range from 20 microns to 5 inches. Electroformed mesh openings as small as 5 microns are available as standard catalog products. Finer opening size mesh, sieves, screen, and wire cloth are specified in micron opening size.

    Opening Shape

    The opening shape is a specification that has importance in decorative and architectural applications. Opening shape can be a selection factor in applications using wire cloth screens to generate elongated particles in powders or granular materials. Opening shape include:

    • Square
    • Hexagon
    • Rectangular
    • Round
    • Triangular
    • Custom or complex patterns

    Chapter 6: Wire Cloth Grades and Industrial Applications

    How is mesh size utilized in industry?

    Wire cloth can be divided into two main application fields:

    • Industrial
    • Architectural & Construction

    Architectural applications include:

    • Decorative or functional facades, windows or fenestration, and roofing elements, which can act as:
      • Graphics and signage imprinted on the screen such as company name or advertising
      • Wind breaks
      • Sunlight diffusers
      • Shade producers to reduce solar thermal heating on an interior space
    • Railing and fall protection - railings on or around decks, stairs, and other open, elevated spaces in buildings or their exteriors can utilize wire mesh or cloth to provide a protective barrier to prevent falls from elevated surfaces.
    • Screens and fencing - wire mesh can be used as fencing or barrier material to stop animals, insects, livestock, and people from entering or exiting a space. Chain link fence is a spiral woven wire product. Fence wires have deep V-shaped “crimps”. V-shaped wires are spiral threaded or woven into each other.
    • Soil Stabilization - Geomesh is wire mesh that can be used to prevent soil, gravel, and earth erosion. Geomesh is important in retaining and stabilizing soil or earth in building and construction applications. Gabion or slope stabilization netting is used to make Gabion boxes, which are filled with stones and gravel to provide a barrier to stop erosion on slopes during floods or heavy rains.
    • Concrete reinforcement - Remesh is placed inside concrete forms to reinforce concrete in conjunction with rebar. Remesh provides a bridge across cracks, which prevents the cracks from propagating.

    Industrial applications include:

    • Battery Electrodes - Wire mesh can be used to create electrodes in batteries and other applications.
    • Belting and Conveyor Mesh - Conveyor mesh is used to make process belts. Process belts are used to move and process materials. High temperature mesh belts can convey parts or materials through a furnace for thermal processing, sintering, and heat treatment. Process belts are also used to manufacture paper and nonwoven polymer fiber webs. Process belts can be spliced or endless. Endless belts have no splice or joint, so they do not leave a repeating pattern in a nonwoven or paper web formed on the endless belt. Endless woven belts are made by spiral weaving.
    • Catalyst and Catalyst Supports - Wire mesh can be used as a support media hold reactive catalyst compound in chemical process plant applications. Certain metals like a fine nickel mesh can act as catalysts.
    • Containers and Packaging - Wire cloth can be formed into containers and packages such as baskets or bags. The openness of the mesh allows air to circulate through the goods in the container, which can prevent mildew and spoilage in some applications. Wire mesh containers can be rigid or flexible depending on the wire cloth product utilized.
    • Dewatering - removal of water from sludge or slurries
    • EMI/FEI shielding - The electrical and magnetic properties of metal wire mesh make the material suitable for EMI/FEI shielding while reducing the weight compared to a solid sheet metal enclosure.
    • Filtration
      • Wire cloth can act as a filter or filtration media
      • Wire mesh or screen can act as a filter media support behind the filter
    • Gasketing and Seals - Wire cloth can be die cut into shape to form gaskets and seals as well as EMI/RFI shielding gaskets.
    • Personal protection - Wire mesh can be fabricated into personal protection components such as shields, barriers, covers, machine guards, dividers, and flame arrestors. Space cloth is the wire cloth grade typically used for these applications. Space cloth tends to be rigid, deeply crimped mesh with openings from ¼ to 4 inches. Space grade cloth is typically specified by opening size.
    • Screen Printing - Screen or wire mesh can be used to print patterns for electronic circuitry, graphics, and even bill and note watermarking.
    • Sieving for particle size classification - Screening, sifting, sieving, and sorting powders and granular materials to produce a specific particle size distribution. The wire cloth is mounted into a frame and placed on a screening machine, which shakes back and forth as powder is fed onto the surface. Bolting grade and market grade wire cloth are commonly used in screening applications. Bolting grade wire cloth has a large percent open area and extremely thin wire to maximize material flow through the screen during sifting of flour, grain, seeds, and metal powders. Bolting grade cloth is typically specified by mesh size.
    • Structuring and reinforcing mesh materials:
      • Hernia repair requires a surgical mesh
      • Steel cord or belting is used to reinforce tires

    Chapter 7: Wire Cloth Fabrication, Secondary Processing or Value Added Services, and Accessories


    Another factor in selecting a supplier for wire cloth is their secondary processing capabilities. Wire cloth has different forming and fabricating characteristics than sheet metal. If you need to fabricate components from wire cloth for your application, then selecting a vendor skilled in processing, treating, cutting, forming, and joining wire cloth would be a wise choice.

    Post weaving or welding value added processes can include:

    • Calendered or Flattened - Calendering is a finishing process where fabric or other material is passed under rollers at high temperatures and pressures to reduce the thickness of the material, increase its bulk density, and/or create a smoother surface.
    • Cleaning - Wire mesh can be cleaned or degreased after processing to remove any oils, greases, dirt, grime, soils, and debris from the manufacturing and secondary fabrication processes.
    • Converting / Cutting
      • Blanking
      • Die Cutting - Die cutting press or rotary die machine
      • Shearing
      • Sheeting / Cut-to-Length
      • Slitting or rotary blade cutting
      • Laser cutting
      • Plasma cutting
    • Coating - Metal wire mesh can be coated with a protective plastic coating such as polyvinyl chloride (PVC, vinyl) or a zinc dip coating.
    • Forming
      • Deep Drawing
      • Calendaring
      • Stamping
      • Straightening or Stretching
    • Heat Treating
      • Annealing
      • Sintering
      • Solution Treating
      • Stress Relieving
    • Joining and Sealing
      • Adhesive Bonding / Gluing
      • Brazing
      • Sintering or solid state bonding
      • Soldering
      • Sealing
      • Welding
    • Mounting - Mounting the wire cloth into a frame or adding edging or channels onto the edges of a sheet of wire mesh. The wire cloth edges can be sharp. Channels and edging can protect workers and allow the wire cloth to be more easily inserted into end-use equipment such as screening machines.
    • Over Molding Plastic Injection Molding
    • Packaging

    Conclusion

    • Wire cloth and metal mesh are manufactured in a wide range to provide a variety of industrial and architectural applications.
    • Specific properties can be engineered by adjusting the weave type, crimp or weld type, opening size, mesh size, wire diameter, and wire alloy type. NEMA enclosures are available in a wide range of shapes, configurations, mounting styles, and NEMA ratings.
    • Many wire cloth manufacturers are familiar with the nuances and unique requirements of specific industry applications. They can provide products specialized for different industries.
    • Wire cloth can be designed and manufactured to meet additional ratings such as ASTM, FEPA, and ANSI standards for sieving or particle classification test sieves.
    • Wire cloth products can be purchased as:
      • Standard or catalog product
      • Customized designed product for specialized products such as a custom weave or a woven wire cloth made with a unique alloy or cross-sectional shape to meet design needs.
      • Fully custom fabricated wire cloth product such as screen, sieve, filter, or basket with additional metal frames - built to print or designed by the wire cloth manufacturer.

    Leading Manufacturers and Suppliers

      Wired for Success: A Beginner's Guide to Wire Cloth

      Everywhere you look, it’s a wired world – but not in the way you think. Wire cloth, screen, wire mesh; all interchangeable terms, are often invisible, buried deep within equipment or hiding in plain sight in an architectural accent.

      The invention of the steam driven loom for textile weaving in the 18th century led to its adoption by the wire weaving industry. Encouraged by the success of an endless mesh belt for paper production in 1798, the industry rapidly expanded.  Fast forward another 188 years to 1986, when the passenger air bag was introduced in cars.  Wire cloth was used in the inflator assembly.  To satisfy the auto industry’s demand for product, the wire weaving industry designed weaving looms with an ‘endless warp’.  Today’s high production weaving looms can weave for weeks, or even a month or more with one set-up; less set-up and downtime, yields more output.

      Today’s wire cloth and mesh products are exceptionally sophisticated. This overview touches on several basic aspects of wire cloth, including different uses, weaves, materials and sizes.

      Applications

      Woven wire cloth is used extensively in many fields, including aerospace, automotive, architectural, chemical, food handling, pharmaceutical, medical, paper production, waste water processing, hygiene and sanitation, radio and microwave screening, ore and mineral processing and optical lens manufacture. The possibilities are endless and drive decisions in the following three attributes.

      Weaves

      There are two main types of wire cloth: woven and welded. Woven wire cloth is more common and generally used for filtering, while welded cloth has a smoother surface and greater strength and rigidity.

      Understanding the different types of traditional weaves available is important because your specific application dictates which is necessary. For example, a hydraulic filter in an airplane engine requires a different weave and material compared to a medical stent. The two basic components of any weave are the warp wire, which runs the length of the cloth, and the shute wire, which runs the width of the cloth. Varying these wires form the different weaves.

      • Twill weave – A wire cloth where each warp wire and shute wire pass over and under the two adjacent wires in both vertical and horizontal directions. Using this pattern enables the use of heavier wire in the mesh.
      • Pre-crimp weaves – Generally used in coarser wire cloth. The wires are crimped before weaving. This causes the warp and shute wires to nest securely with each other, prevents random movement and ensures accurate and consistent openings. There are several types of pre-crimp weaves.
      • Plain weave or Double Crimp – The most common wire cloth, with warp and shute wires passing over and under rows like interlaced fingers.

      Materials

      Strength, weight, durability, flow characteristics, heat and corrosion resistance are critical factors to consider when choosing a wire cloth material. Wire cloth and screens are commonly woven from steel wire due to its relatively low cost and high tensile strength, but there is a wide range of pure metals and alloys to choose from. Here is a non-exhaustive list:

      • Steel
      • Nickel Alloys
      • Aluminum
      • Copper Alloys
      • Molybdenum
      • Titanium
      • Brass
      • Bronze

      Sizes

      Finally, wire cloth is manufactured with mesh openings ranging anywhere from five inches to 20 microns and measured based on that size. The first two measurements below apply to wire cloth with mesh sizes greater than or less than one inch, while the last only applies to mesh less than one inch.

      • Center-to-Center Spacing: Measures from the center of one wire to the center of the adjacent wire.
      • Opening Size: Measures the clear opening between wires.
      • Mesh Count: Measures the number of mesh openings per lineal inch.

      In summary, here are the main takeaways about wire cloth:

      • Application drives three key decisions.
      • Weaves determine strength and durability.
      • Material selection is influenced by operating environment.
      • Size is measured differently based on mesh width.

      Newark Wire Cloth, a recognized leader in the wire cloth industry, manufactures off-the-shelf and custom woven wire cloth for any and every application. It has specialized in the fabrication of wire cloth parts and assemblies for the past 105 years. Contact them today for your next wire cloth project.

      For more filter mesh suppliersinformation, please contact us. We will provide professional answers.

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