How Wire Mesh is Made?

Wire mesh sheet is a highly versatile product used for a wide variety of applications, from safety fencing, concrete reinforcement, light fixtures, to air filtration.

Ever stopped to think about the humble wire mesh? It’s everywhere! From the sturdy safety fence around a construction site to the delicate screen in your coffee maker, or even reinforcing the concrete beneath your feet. This incredibly versatile product, often made from durable metals like carbon or stainless steel, comes in a vast array of wire thicknesses (gauges) and opening sizes, making it indispensable across countless industries.

But how does this seemingly simple grid of wires come into being?

While it might look straightforward, the manufacturing process is a fascinating blend of precision engineering and ingenious mechanics. At its core, wire mesh is created in two primary forms: woven wire mesh and welded wire mesh.

The Starting Point: From Rod to Wire

No matter if it's destined to be woven or welded, the journey of every wire mesh sheet begins with the wire itself. The process kicks off with a metal rod, tube, or a thicker wire. This raw material is then meticulously extruded – pulled through a series of progressively smaller dies. Each pass through a die reduces the wire's diameter, stretching it out and making it thinner.

Once the desired gauge is achieved, this newly formed wire is neatly wound onto large spools, ready for the next stage. If needed for specific mesh types, this spooled wire can later be fed through a straightening machine and precisely cut to the required lengths. This foundational step ensures the uniformity and quality essential for creating high-performance mesh.

Woven Wire Mesh

Weaving wire into mesh is similar to the process of weaving cloth. First, a wire loom is set up with long lengths of wire strung parallel through the Terramesh like yarn warp threads.
As the machine operates, wire harnesses lift alternate strands of the wire, allowing a shuttle to pass between strands perpendicularly, pulling along a filling wire, similar to a yarn weft. Then a batten presses the filling wire against the mesh and the harnesses lift the opposite strands so the shuttle can pass through in the opposite direction, producing an over-under weave.
Other weave patterns can also be created.

Welded Wire Mesh

Another type of wire mesh, sometimes called welded wire fabric, can be made with an automatic wire mesh welding machine. This type of mesh consists of a series of parallel and perpendicular wires spaced at equal distances and welded at the intersections.
To set up the machine, wire is strung through a row of automatic feeders that push the long parallel strands through the welder. To create the cross-wires, another feeder drops short perpendicular sections of wire down on top of the parallel wires. At the intersections between parallel and perpendicular wires, a row of electrical resistance weld heads then fuses the joints and the mesh is pulled ahead, while another perpendicular wire drops down.

Contact OZI today for more information about wire mesh and machinery or to get a quote.

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