Glossary

AISI — American Iron and Steel Institute.

ASTM — American Society For Testing Material. An organization for issuing standard specifications on materials, including metals and alloys.

Austenitic — Stainless steel with non-magnetic properties. Austenitic stainless steel is very resistance to corrosion due to its nickel content and higher levels of chromium. Austenitic stainless steels are hardened and strengthened through cold working rather than heat treatment and ductility is excellent. The two most common grades are 304 and 316.

B

Band — Mill term used to describe pre coated or unfinished steel in coil form.

Bond (expanded metal) — The intersection of two strands in an expanded metal sheet.

Bond Shearing — Cutting sheets to size so that the holes are closed along the margins. Bond shearing is restricted by the spacing of the openings in the sheet (see random shearing).

Brinell Hardness Test — A standard method of measuring the hardness of materials. The smooth surface of the metal is subjected to indentation by a hardened steel ball under pressure. The diameter of the indentation in the material surface is then measured by a microscope and the hardness value is read from a chart or determined by a prescribed formula.

C

Camber — A slight bow which can occur during manufacturing and results in an out-of-square condition.

Class 1 — Cold Rolled Sheet and coil rated as Class 1 is intended for exposed applications where surface appearance is primary.

Class 2 — Cold Rolled Sheet and coil rated as Class 2 is mainly used for unexposed applications and can have more surface blemishes.

Cold Rolled Steel — Cold rolling is applied to lighter gauge (7 gauge or lighter) hot-rolled steel sheets or coils to reduce the thickness of the material. This process not only results in improved gauge tolerances, but also in a smooth, attractive appearance. Cold rolled steel is generally free of rust or scale and is easy to work.

Cold Working — Changing the structure and shape of steel by applying stress at low temperature.

Commercial Quality Steel — Steel with a carbon limit at 0.15 max. A Standard Quality Carbon Steel Sheet. The characteristics of commercial quality steel are defined by the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM).

Drawing — Mechanically forming metal by tension through or in a die.

Drawing Quality — (DQ) Flat-rolled products produced from either deep drawing rimmed steel or extra deep drawing aluminum killed steels. Special rolling and processing operations aid in producing a product that can withstand extreme pressing, drawing or forming, etc., without creating defects. The characteristics of drawing quality steel are defined by the American Society for Testing Materials (ASTM).

Ductility — The ability of a material to be stretched into a new shape without it breaking.

Electro-Galvanized — An electrical plating process applied to carbon steel that results in a thin evenly distributed coating of zinc over all exposed carbon steel surfaces.

Expanded Metal — A metal sheet that is simultaneously slit and stretched into a rigid, non-raveling open mesh.

Expanded Metal Grating — A sheet or plate expanded into a structural open grating ideal for catwalk and platform application. Certain expanded metal grating products can be flattened.

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

Gripmesh — An adaptation of regular expanded metal. It features teethlike projections that provide an anti-slip surface when used in platforms or ramps.

Hot Rolled Steel — Hot rolled products are rougher in appearance and more difficult to work than ones that are cold rolled, but are satisfactory for many uses. Heavier items, such as 3/16 inch and 1/4 inch plate are made of lower-cost, hot rolled steel.

Lineal Inch — the measure of inches in a straight line.

Lineal Foot — the measure of feet in a straight line.

Load — The amount of weight, measured in pounds per square foot, that the grating will support. There are two types of load measurements: point and whole bar.

Machine Run to Size — Expanded metal as it comes off of the press with closed diamond edges.

Mebac — An acronym from Metal Bonded Anti-slip Coating, Mebac is an aluminum oxide coating applied over a metal's surface to provide slip resistance.

Mesh (expanded metal) — This is the nominal distance from the mid-point of one bond in expanded metal to the mid-point of the next bond measured across the SWD. Mesh is expressed in inches.

Opening Size (expanded metal) — The area in expanded metal enclosed by bonds and strands.

Polyvinylidene Fluoride (P.V.D.F.) — technical name for Kynar 500™ system of paint coatings for Pre Painted Steel

P.V.C. — Removable plastic coating applied to sheet to provide protection from bending and processing machinery prior to installation of panels

Pickled and Oiled — Hot rolled steel that is acid pickled to remove mill oxide, improving surface appearance, uniformity and finishing qualities including paint adhesion.

Polyamide Resin — A thermosetting liquid polymer that is hardened by exposure to heat.

Random Shearing — Cutting sheets to size without regard to the position of the holes. Typically results in open holes at the margins (see Bond Shearing).

Shearing — Cutting flat rolled metal to size to produce various sizes and shapes.

Silicon Modified Polyester (S.M.P.) — technical name for system of paint coatings for Pre Painted Steel

Squareness — Products are square within manufacturing tolerances. Should squareness be critical, sheets can be square sheared.

Standard Expanded Metal — Also called regular, unflattened, or raised expanded metal. Expanded metal as it comes from the press. The strands and bonds are set at a uniform angle to the plane of the sheet.

Strand (expanded metal) — The single metal strip that forms the border of the diamond, or opening in the expanded metal.

Strand Thickness — In standard expanded metal, it is the gauge of the sheet's thickness. In flattened expanded metal, it is the overall thickness of the finished sheet which includes the heighth of the raised strands.

Strand Width — Amount of material fed into the press to produce one strand.

Striation — Grooves or channels cut or extruded in the surface of grating, usually parallel to the length, for the purpose of providing slip resistance.

Structural Quality — Material applicable to the various classes of structures, indicated by the standard specifications, which is suitable for the different mechanical operations employed for the fabrication of such structures. Structural quality (the characteristics of which are defined by the American Society for Testing Materials) represents the quality of steel produced under regular or normal manufacturing conditions.