• Strand Thickness in raised Expanded Metal is the gauge or thickness of the sheet or coil from which the Expanded Metal was produced in flattened Expanded Metal it is the overall thickness of the finished sheet.

• Strand width in raised Expanded Metal is the amount of metal fed in to the expanding machine, which is slit and stretched with each stoke of the upper die, In flattened Expanded Metal , it is as the name implies, the width of the strand

SWO

Short Way of Opening, the distance measured from the inside of the bond across to inside of the bond.

LWO

Long Way of Opening, the distance measured from the inside of the bond across to inside of the bond.

SWD

The distance from a point on a bond to a corresponding point on the following bond measured across the Short Way of Design. This is also sometimes referred to as “ Pitch SWD”.

LWD

The distance from a point on a bond to a corresponding point on the following bond measured across the Long Way of Design. This distance is also sometimes referred to as “Pitch LWD”.

Strand and Bond

Expanded Metal is composed of strands and bonds. Strands from the sides of the expanded metals openings. Bonds are where the strands intersect. In other words, the bond is where each diamond shaped opening is connected with the next opening.

Open Area

Expanded Metal contains open spaces ( the diamond-shaped openings) and material. Open area is the total area of the diamond openings divided by the total area of the sheet or roll of expanded metal and is expressed as a percent. In other word, open area describes how much of the expanded metal is open space. If expanded metal has a 60 percent open area, then 60 percent of the expanded metal is open space and 40 percent is material.

Flattened

Standard expanded metal that has been passed through a cold roll mill. Bonds and strands are turned down to produce a smooth surface.