{"id":4704,"date":"2021-01-27T11:27:50","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T09:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fractory.com\/?p=4704"},"modified":"2024-01-26T15:05:04","modified_gmt":"2024-01-26T13:05:04","slug":"sheet-metal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fractory.com\/sheet-metal\/","title":{"rendered":"All About Sheet Metal – Materials, Standard Sizes & Forming Processes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sheet metal is the basis of all engineering today. We can see it everywhere – from cars and machinery to house facades and furniture.<\/p>\n

To utilise sheet metal to its full extent, engineers should first know a thing or two about it. This includes standard measurements, materials, differences in manufacturing and possible forming methods.<\/p>\n

What Is Sheet Metal?<\/h2>\n

Sheet metal is one of the shapes and forms metal can be bought in. Sheet metal is any metal that has a thickness in between 0.5…6 millimetres.<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are other measurement units used to categorise metals by thickness, though.<\/p>\n

Millimetres, Mils & Gauge<\/h3>\n

Foils, sheets and plates are pretty much the same, with the only difference being in thickness. Thickness is measured in 3 ways – millimetres, mils and gauges. While millimetre is a pretty straightforward unit, mils and gauges are only common in engineering and manufacturing.<\/p>\n

One mil equals to a thousandth of an inch. As the British often use “mils” as a plural for millimetres, it can be a little confusing but the difference is important.<\/p>\n

Gauge is another unit for measuring sheet metal thickness. Although official standards discourage the use of gauges, they are not all that rare. Gauge represents the thickness of a metal in relation to its weight per square foot. A higher gauge number means a smaller thickness.<\/p>\n

\"Sheet<\/p>\n

As it is related to the weight of a metal, the actual thickness (mm) for the same gauge, is different for various metals (e.g. 12 mm steel vs 12 mm aluminium).<\/p>\n

Foil, Sheet and Plate<\/h3>\n

Having gone over the primary measurement systems, we can now look at the categorisation of foils, sheets and plates. For our purpose, we are going to stick with millimetres as the unit of measurement.<\/p>\n

\"Layers
Metal foil<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Metal foil is especially common with aluminium, often referred to as tinfoil. The thickness of foil is usually up to 0.2 mm.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sheet metal is the next in line. The thickness of sheet metal starts from 0.5 mm and goes up to 6 mm. Anything above that is a metal plate.<\/p>\n

The thin sheet metal is easy to form, while still providing great strength. At a relatively cheap price, it makes a great fit for most engineering purposes. That is why we see it everywhere around us.<\/p>\n

At the end of the article, we will be discussing different forming methods used with sheet metal.<\/p>\n

Common Materials<\/h2>\n

Pretty much all the common engineering metals are also used in the form of sheets. Some of them are carbon steel, stainless steel, copper and aluminium. Choosing the right one for you comes down to the application and requirements of your product.<\/p>\n

Metal sheets have the same mechanical properties as the base metal<\/a>. Thus, steel sheets have high tensile strength<\/a> and durability suitable for use in constructions and machinery.<\/p>\n

At the same time, copper sheets often find use as a decorative layer<\/a> on modern buildings.<\/p>\n

Standard Sizes<\/h2>\n

Standard measurements apply to both sheet sizes and thicknesses. While achieving large sheet sizes have a few workarounds through welding<\/a>, you cannot really look past the thickness tables.<\/p>\n

Standard Sheet Metal Measurements<\/h3>\n

\"Standard<\/p>\n

Knowing standard sheet sizes helps you with optimising your part layouts. Many times have we received parts for production that are just a bit larger than the standard size. That means more scrap and higher overall costs for the customer.<\/p>\n

Also, another thing to bear in mind here is the availability of different sheet sizes. While small, medium and large sheets are pretty much always in stock at every sheet metal fabricator’s warehouse, oversized sheets may not be.<\/p>\n

Many of them may also not have the machinery to cut such large sheets. So knowing your manufacturers’ capabilities<\/a> comes in handy here.<\/p>\n

Sometimes you can just weld together two smaller sheets but it is not the optimal solution. Especially when putting high emphasis on the aesthetics of your project.<\/p>\n

Standard Sheet Metal Thickness<\/h3>\n

\"Standard<\/p>\n

The table above shows standard thicknesses for both sheet metal and metal plates. As you can see, each type of metal<\/a> has its own standards.<\/p>\n

Also, it is good to not only pay attention to the starting and ending points but the actual values. Someone asking for non-standard thicknesses is quite frequent.<\/p>\n

Exceptions to this table definitely exist. We would just advise you to follow these thicknesses because of the difficulty of finding the materials. All of the ones above are readily available with many sheet metal fabricators<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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