Sheet metals find application in many industries, ranging from food to process industries. Due to their properties, the sheet metals represent the ideal metal for producing various items. What are the properties that make the sheet metals such a desirable material?
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Sheet metals and their importance in today’s industry
The sheet metal has been used since ancient times. At the beginning, it was produced by primitive techniques that included hand-fed batons powered by water. Today, advanced production techniques are used, including the rolling of metal blocks by means of rollers with different spacing.
With this processing method, plates of different thicknesses can be produced, which can be divided into:
- Fine sheet metals – up to 1 mm thickness
- Thin sheet metals – from 1 to 2,75 mm thickness
- Medium sheet metals – from 3 to 4,75 mm thickness
- Thick sheet metals – from 5 to 60 mm thickness
One of the most famous sheet metals used daily in almost all households is aluminum foil. In addition to this, one of the most popular sheet metals are golden leaves whose thickness can be just around 0.005 mm.
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Sheet metal types
Today there are many different types of sheet metals that find their application in different industries. Generally, the sheet metals can be divided into:
- Construction sheets
- Ship sheets (plates)
- Car sheets (plates)
- Coal sheets
- Transformation sheets
- Other types of sheets
In addition to the mentioned division, the sheets can also be observed from the aspect of the construction, ie their shape. Thus, for example, we can nowadays find ribbed sheets that are primarily intended for roofing. Furthermore, smooth, bent or corrugated sheets can also be applied.
The sheets can furthermore be divided according to the way they are produced, ie processed. According to this division there are annealed sheets, soft and hard sheets, as well as normalized sheets.
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Metal sheet processing
Depending on its properties, metal sheet can be processed in many different ways. Along with laser cutting, as one of as one of the most economical cutting techniques, plasma and oxy fuel gas cutting are also offered on the market.
However, what you should pay attention to when cutting with laser is the reflection that can cause damage to the laser cutter.
In addition to being cut, there is often a need for sheet bending. This type of treatment is carried out by means of special blades or presses which, under certain pressure with the help of plastic deformation, form a sheet according to the desired and required shape.
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The application of sheets in the industry
The sheets are in the industry used for the production of various products starting from cans in the food industry to the manufacture of various machine parts.
In addition, sheets made of stainless steel are used in the process industry, ie in the industry where the demands on the construction materials are exceptionally large.
One of the most important metal sheets used in the industry is the white (steel) sheet. The white sheet is obtained by cold rolling and is coated with a tin of 0.01 mm thickness, which gives it resistance.
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