LSM Glossary: Wire Mesh Terminology.

Lawrence Sintered Metals Offers many types of wire mesh for your projects. If you need to understand more about the types and specifications of metal mesh, also called wire mesh and wire cloth, here is a glossary of frequently used wire mesh terminology. You can also contact us with any questions you may have about wire mesh or for a quote for your product.

ASTM E 2016-20: Applies to any primary metal or metal alloy wire that is suitable for weaving. It does not apply to welded wire mesh, insect screen or galvanized hardware cloth.

Calendering: A rolling operation which flattens the knuckles of wire cloth giving it a smoother surface.

Count in Mesh: Number of openings in a linear inch.

Crimp: Corrugations in wires to permit locking them into place when perpendicular to each other.

Double Crimp: Wire pre-crimped prior to weaving; Warp and shute wires lay in each crimp.

Diameter of Wire:  The terms gauge or diameter wire are often used interchangeably in the industry when specifying wire mesh, and they refer to the thickness of individual wires.

Double Intermediate Crimp: Warp wires lay in every crimp in the shute wires, and the shute wires lay in every crimp in the warp wires.

Fill Wire: Also known as shute wire, wire running across the width of the cloth.

Filter Cloth: Cloth used for flattening or straining (primarily plain and twilled dutch wire cloth and certain specifications of square mesh and off-count standard wire cloth).

Flat Top: Top surface of wires all lie in the same plane. Irregular crimped surface on underside.

Gauge:  Wire diameter in decimal sizes rather than gauge numbers.

Hardware Cloth: Plain weave square mesh cloth of relatively light wire galvanized after weaving or welding (usually between 2 to 8 openings per lineal inch).

Intermediate Crimp: Warp and shute wires lay in every other crimp.

Intercrimp: Wires are crimped in a zigzag fashion with intersections at every 3rd, 5th, or 7th, etc., crimp or pocket.

Intermediate Crimp:  Describes the popular crimp type that is used when woven wire mesh is manufactured.  Intermediate crimp is generally employed in coarser meshes to obtain large openings with relatively light wires.

Long Shot: Weave where shute wires are arranged in clusters to provide rectangular openings.

Lock Crimp: Distinct crimp or pocket at wire intersection with straight connecting sections of wire. Similar to intermediate crimp, it is also comprised of pre-crimped wires.

Market Grade: Most commonly used sizes of industrial wire cloth specifications selected for general purpose work. Applies to wire cloth specifications most commonly used for general work. Market grade cloth is made of one size wire for each size closed mesh.

Mesh Count: To do mesh count, start from the center of one wire and count the number of openings to a point exactly one linear inch away. Mesh and mesh count refer to the number of openings per linear inch – a critical component when specifying wire mesh. Mesh count and wire diameter are inversely related, such as that a high mesh count will likely come with a narrow wire diameter and vice versa.

Mesh: Number of openings in a linear inch measured from the center of one wire to a point 1″ distant.

Micron: 1/1000 millimeter, 0.00003937 inch. The unit of measure for particle retention of filter media.

Micronic Mesh: Woven filter cloth with a nominal micron rating as low as 1 with excellent flow characteristics.

Off-count Mesh:  Commonly used to describe a woven or welded wire mesh that does not have the same mesh count in both directions. As a result, the mesh is not square, but rectangular.

Oil Tempered Wire: High carbon steel wire that is heat treated to produce good strength and abrasion resistance.

Open Area: The proportion of open space in a total screen area; Expressed as a percentage. (Commonly a wire cloth term.)

Opening in Wire Mesh: Clear opening between adjacent parallel wires; Not affected by diameter of the wire. The proportion of open space in a total screen area; Expressed as a percentage.

Opening: Dimension between parallel adjacent wires.

Plain Weave:  When each warp wire and shute pass over one and under the next adjacent wire; Wires are crimped in the weaving operation.

Plain Dutch Weave:  Warp wires are generally larger than the shute wires. Shute wires are closely spaced to provide a dense weave with wedge shaped openings.

Rectangular Openings in Mesh: Long dimension of an opening can be specified as parallel or perpendicular to the length.

Reverse Dutch Weave Mesh: Woven in which the larger count of wires is found in the warp and the smaller count in the shute, thus reversing the method used in plain and twilled Dutch weaves.

Selvage: Finished edges that run the length of the roll to prevent unraveling in the mesh.

Selvage Edge: The edge or border of wire cloth that has a finished edge. When wire cloth is woven, the shute wires are woven in, continuously, forming a smooth edge running the length of the roll while helping to prevent unraveling on certain specifications. A selvage edge will increase the stability of a mesh and provide a safety edge for handling.

Shute Wires: Wires running across the width of the cloth as woven.

Square Mesh: Wire cloth with mesh count the same in both directions.

Twilled Weave: Each warp wire and each shute wire pass successively over two and under the next adjacent pair of wires.

Twilled Dutch Weave: Same as twilled Dutch except the shute wires are smaller and overlap, thus increasing the number of shute wires in a linear inch to provide greater density.

Twilled Weave:  The warp wires and shute wires pass over two and under two in both directions. This is different from a plain weave, which is when the wires are woven one over and one under. Twilled weave is often more pliable than a comparable plain weave wire mesh specification.

Raw Edge of Mesh:  Refers to edging that is not continuously woven and is usually the result of manufacturing wire mesh on a rapier loom. In this case, the shute wires are uncovered, or raw.

Steel Mesh: Number of openings per lineal inch, measured from center of wire to center of wire, as in stainless steel mesh.

Space Screen: Wire cloth specified by the opening size rather than by the mesh count, as in stainless steel screen.

Square Mesh: Mesh with equal spacing of warp and shute to give square openings.

Standard, Market Grade:  Standard or market grade refers to a family of wire meshes that have a specific mesh count and a corresponding moderate diameter wire. For example, you can have mesh with market grade weft wires or warp wires.

Warp Wire, Shute Wire: The “warp wire” is a technical term that describes the wires running the length of the roll of wire cloth. Another way to define the “warp wire” is the wires that make up the length of a roll. The warp wires are the wires running horizontally, as the photo below depicts when a roll is standing on its end.

Weft Wires: Wires running perpendicular to the cloth as woven.

Warp Wires: Wires running the length of the cloth as woven.

Weaves of Mesh: Pattern in which wires are interwoven.

Wire Diameter or Gauge: Diameter of wire used in weaving cloth.

Welded Wire Mesh: Warp and shute wires lay flat (no crimp); Welded at intersections.

Wire Mesh, Wire Cloth, Wire Fabric:  While these three terms – wire mesh, wire cloth and wire fabric –likely meant different things at different times to different people, in today’s marketplace, these three words are used interchangeably and all refer to the same product.