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Sheet Metal and It’s Uses
If you should ever, God forbid, find yourself splayed out across an operating table, the substance that you are probably gauging as being too cold is called Sheet Metal. This product of metalworking is used in many different industries and has many applications.
What is Sheet Metal?
Sheet metal is defined basically as flattened metal. It’s precisely what it sounds like, metal flattened into sheets. Some metals used to produce sheet metal are cold rolled steel, mild steel, nickel, titanium, aluminum, brass, tin, and copper.
Uses of Sheet Metal
Sheet metal is manufactured in a number of thicknesses to be applied in a number of settings. Sheet metal is used in construction for covering or flashing roofs; wall covering and formation of columns, balustrades, etc.; for conductor pipes and gutters, and other applications. It’s used in the making of air conditioners to provide the self-contained units for the refrigeration system. In the medical field sheet metal is used for tables and storage units. It’s also used for tubing, signs, airplane wings, automotive bodies, and many other applications.
How Sheet Metal is Made
The process of making sheet metal is not the most complex process known to man, but there are several steps involved. First, the metal is melted down in a container known as a crucible. Next, it’s poured out of the crucible and into a rectangular mold. After it has cooled the metal is removed from the mold as an ingot, or rectangular block of metal. The ingot then undergoes a process known as pickling; basically the ingot is dipped in chemicals which clean it. After pickling the ingot is fed into a press consisting of two large rollers. The ingot will be run through the press several times to produce the desired thickness and will be annealed, or heated up and pickled again. The annealing process also must be repeated a number of times. The finished product is either shipped flat or rolled into coils.
Sheet metal has many applications and uses in many different industries. Although the process of producing the sheet metal is not entirely complicated, the finished product is essential to many different items we use frequently in our daily lives. It may even be part of what’s forming the roof over your head or the body of your car.
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