Posted by Ron Delfini on | Comments Off on A Buyer’s Guide to Expanded Metal Mesh Foil
Expanded metal mesh foil offers superior conductivity or resistivity while providing strength and light weight. It has many advantages compared to perforated metal and wire/woven mesh, and its use is beneficial in varying applications.
The main differences between each product type are the manufacturing process, the intended end-use, and the characteristics of the material. Expanded metal foil has unique properties that outperform other perforated and woven wire metals, such as:
Enhanced Stability
Increased Strength
Excellent Conductivity
Reduced Waste Generation
Expanded mesh is the preferred material choice in many industries due to the material’s ability to allow air, light, and fluid to pass through. The uniform diamond pattern creates structural integrity during fabrication, mitigating the risk of unraveling during manufacturing, which is often the case with woven mesh products.
The many advantages of expanded metal foil make it an ideal material choice that is lightweight, durable, and cost-effective.
Posted by Ron Delfini on | Comments Off on Visit CThru Metals at The Battery Show
CThru Metals is excited to announce our return to The Battery Show, the annual premier event for the battery and electric vehicle industry. This year’s show is a hybrid event with the Electric & Hybrid Vehicle Technology Expo, and our team will be available to both battery and EV communities at Booth 323.
Our team will be on site to share our latest product developments in expanded metal mesh. This technology has proven to be critical to battery and electric vehicle applications for its unique ability to provide high-level strength and conductivity, while still allowing air, water and light to pass through.
Join us at the show as we share free samples of our expanded metal mesh materials. Our knowledgeable team will also share videos and other collateral so you can see how expanded metal mesh fits into your applications:
Battery Components: Expanded metal foil is lighter and provides increased formability when compared to solid material. It is a perfect application for current collection due to its superior conductivity and the ability to tune resistivity by adjusting the expanding parameters.
Electric Vehicle Applications: In addition to battery applications, expanded metal foil also offers advantages in the following areas: >> EMI/RFI shielding for vehicle electronics, wiring harnesses, etc. >> Grounding and wiring replacement — works well as a conductive layer in laminated materials. >> Fuel cell construction. >> Weight reduction.
About CThru Metals
Our extensive capabilities in expanded metal foil manufacturing allow us to produce custom metal mesh in a wide range of shapes, thicknesses and configurations. As an industry leader in advanced expanded metal foil solutions, we offer fast lead times and competitive prices using proprietary expanded metal manufacturing equipment that we design and build in-house. This equipment enables us to expand faster with improved control over process parameters.
Posted by Ron Delfini on | Comments Off on Getting Your Expanded Metal Mesh Project Quoted: What You Need to Know
When working with a custom expanded metal mesh supplier, the company you choose should work closely with you to develop a custom product that suits your exact requirements and specifications. This checklist will guide you through the primary information to provide your supplier during the quoting process to ensure they can meet your needs and provide high-quality expanded metal mesh within your timeline.
What to Have Ready for Your Supplier
Before you request a quote from a prospective supplier, have a list of your project needs ready. You should provide information such as:
Type of Raw Material Alloy. There are various raw material alloys available, each offering its own unique properties and benefits. It is crucial to consider your application’s requirements for cost, corrosion resistance, density, hardness, yield strength, tensile strength, elongation, magnetism, bend rating, and more when choosing the right expanded metal material.
Raw Material Thickness. Years ago, metal foil could be expanded as thin as 50 microns and up to 36 inches in width. Today, metals can be expanded down to 30 microns and 40+ inches in width, with more advanced technologies capable of expanding metals even wider.
Coil Width. Creating expanded metal foil involves slitting and stretching a lightweight metal coil to produce a consistent mesh pattern of openings.
Raw Expand Length. Expanded metal is an ideal solution for applications where weight is crucial due to its ability to be produced thinner than alternative open area materials. Long coil lengths are only limited by raw material availability and finished coil weights.
Strand. Key measurements of expanded metal mesh include strand width (SW), short way of the diamond (SWD), and long way of the diamond (LWD).
SW. This refers to the amount of material that should be slit from the parent material to form the opening.
SWD. This refers to the distance from one joint’s center to the adjacent joint’s center across the diamond’s short axis.
LWD. This refers to the distance from one joint’s center to the adjacent joint’s center across the diamond’s long axis.
Leveling. If your project is working with leveled materials, you must provide the thickness of the leveled/flattened material (manufactured material thickness).
Get Your Expanded Metal Mesh Project Quote From CThru Metals
Before you request a quote from a supplier for your expanded metal mesh project, you must gather the necessary information regarding certain measurements and specifications for your project. Everything from the type of alloy required to specific dimensions and more must be provided to ensure the most accurate quoting process.
At CThru Metals, our extensive capabilities in expanded metal manufacturing allow us to produce custom metal mesh in a wide range of shapes, thicknesses, and configurations to meet your specific needs. Our standard diamond sizes range from 0.030’’ to 0.500’’ LWD, with the number of openings ranging between 25 to 5,000 per square inch. As an industry leader in advanced and innovative expanded metal foil solutions, we offer faster lead times and competitive prices using custom expanded metal manufacturing equipment that operates two times faster than standard metal expanding equipment.
For more information about our custom expanded metal mesh capabilities, or to work with us on your next project, request a quote today.
Posted by Ron Delfini on | Comments Off on How CThru Metals Helped Michigan’s Racing Team across the Finish Line
MRacing — the University of Michigan’s Formula SAE team — is tasked each year with designing a formula-style race car to race against other college teams worldwide. This year, the design engineering team wanted to make sure their 36th vehicle was built for strength and speed to compete against fully electric race car competitions in both North America and Europe.
Ranked 5th in the world out of 600 teams, the MRacing team had a reputation to uphold. They reached out to CThru Metals, hoping to leverage our expanded metal foil’s high strength-to-weight ratio to complete the vehicle’s design specifications, and our team was happy to help.
The MRacing vehicle contains carbon fiber throughout its battery pack housing and monocoque chassis. By inserting expanded metal foil under the top ply of the car’s composite layups, the foil acted as a grounding layer across the surface of the carbon fiber parts. Because the car can become conductive, this expanded metal foil solution delivered the dual benefit of shielding the car’s high-voltage electronics in accordance with FSAE regulations, while also allowing the car to maintain top speed and performance.
More on Expanded Metal Foil’s Benefits
Expanded metal foil outperforms woven wire and perforated metals in conductivity, strength, stability and waste generation. More industries and applications are turning to expanded foil for these reasons — CThru’s foil is used in lightning strike protection for aircraft, wind turbine blades, and other carbon fiber uses for batteries, and fuel cells.
From one engineering team to another, we hope our donation of expanded metal foil helps bring the MRacing team another winning season in their upcoming competitions! If you have any questions about how expanded metal foil can assist in your project, please don’t hesitate to contact our team today.
