Perforated metal coils are one of the most common ways in which perforated metal is manufactured and delivered. A perforated coil offers an economical means for handling perforated metal, as the material is tightly wound into compact rolls for easier transport and endless application possibilities.
Perforated Coil Capabilities
- 14 Gauge to 26 Gauge
- Aluminum, Carbon Steel (Hot Rolled Pickled & Oiled, Hot Roll Black, Galvanized, Galvannealed)
- Min Width: 1”; Max Width: 60”
- Max Coil: 16,000 lbs
How Is a Coil Perforated?
Perforated metal coil starts as raw material. In fact, these raw coils can weigh up to 50,000 lbs and be 72” wide! The flat roll coil is produced by a large-scale industrial company called a mill (steel, aluminum). Depending on the coil grade or alloy, each substrate is processed differently. Let’s look at one – hot roll carbon steel. Carbon steel starts at either a Mini Mill or an Integrated Mill. To keep things simple, mini mills use an electric arc furnace, while an integrated mill uses a blast furnace.
Mini and Integrated Mills
Mini mills melt primarily from recycled scrap – whether that be automobiles or scrap from other steel products (including the by-product of perforated metals, which mini mills love). Integrated mills use a Basic Oxygen Furnace and utilize pig iron, scrap, and various elements to make steel. Regardless of how it is made, the steel is poured out into casters to form slabs.
Rolling Process
These slabs then go through a “rolling” process – a series of stands that flattens out the slab and reduces it to the specified thickness of the produced material. From here, and with no further processing, would be considered as “black” (or hot roll black), or sent for “pickling” (hot roll p&o). Once in coil form off the hot strip mill, to produce lighter gauges (such as 14, 16, or 18), additional rolling (cold rolling) must take place to hit the aim-to gauge and further work harden the mechanical properties. From here, the coil is shipped to a service center which often slits the material into a smaller coil. Then, Accurate Perforating orders material from the service center.
After it is delivered and inspected for specification and quality, we load it into one of our 18 perforating presses. For material that is 14 gauge down to 26 gauge, we can perforate the material and then recoil and band it, supplying you with a full coil of perforated metal. We can then store the coil here and send it to you based on your desired shipping schedule.
Applications
Because metal coils are so easy to work with and store easily, they are a great way to give you flexibility when incorporating them into your work. We can also keep them here as safety stock and then further process them into perforated metal sheets and fabrication or send them through one of many value-added service lines. This includes degreasing and leveling. OEMs have found countless innovative ways to incorporate them into their work. Here are some common industries:
HVAC
Coils are brought in and then formed into ductwork. In fact, a common size is 5.394" coils which we now stock! The perforated coil allows the HVAC industry to make custom ductwork depending on the structure it is being put into. In general, perforated metal promotes better airflow. In a building structure, that means more comfort. For mechanics, it means cooler, safer operations.
Metal Service Center
Metal Service Centers are the distributors in the metal industry. Think of them as the Home Depot for all things metal. Service Center will buy perforated metal coil to keep on their shelves and then slit to size (or cut it to length as a sheet) depending on the customer’s requirements.
Filtration
The filtration industry uses perforated metal coils extensively. Coils are sometimes fed into tube lines and can be straight welded or spirally formed. The coil is also cut to length and then stamped into parts that go into large filtration equipment.