Company Announcement - As non-renewable resources are placed under ongoing strain, the emphasis on manufacturing environmentally-conscious products is escalating. Accountability for manufacturing processes and the end products will come increasingly under the spotlight. Andrew Mentis’ marketing manager, Elaine van Rooyen, explains that the company has carefully reviewed smarter ways of bringing its product range in line with green legislation. One of the company’s environmental champions is its range of expanded metal products.

“Expanded metal finds favour for three reasons. Firstly, the manufacturing process is extremely economical. Secondly, the product itself is extremely hard wearing and durable, thereby resulting in increased longevity and less waste. Finally, expanded metal can be recycled at the end of its life,” says van Rooyen. She explains that expanded metal is produced by slitting and expanding a solid sheet of metal into a web of diamond-shaped meshes. The metal sheet can, in fact, be expanded up to ten times its original size, losing no material in the process and resulting in a remarkably light mesh. This raised mesh, which is known as Mentex®, can also be flattened into the same plane as the sheet of metal expanded and is known as Flatex®.

Because Andrew Mentis expanded metal products are made from a single sheet of high quality local mild steel or other ductile metal, there are no fretting strands, strained joints or welds, all of which can result in shortened lifespan.

Expanded metal products have become increasingly popular in a number of industries including mining, construction, food and security. It is used for screens, grates, shelving, racks, protection guards, internal partitioning, burglar proofing, fencing, reinforcement, walkways, platforms and stairs, beds, garden furniture, braai grids, filters, dividers, scaffolding, truck bodies, tunnel and shaft linings, grain silos and even decoratively.

Flexibility in the range of mesh sizes and thicknesses of both Mentex® and Flatex® allows customers to select the product that best suits their requirements. Andrew Mentis’ expanded metal can be bent, shaped to radii, angled or notched. There is an extensive select spectrum of mesh sizes, from the smallest mini-meshes with openings of 2 mm by 4 mm and a thickness of 0,3 mm to the larger versions with openings of 75 mm by 200 mm and a thickness of 6 mm.

“It is incumbent upon industry to adopt eco-conscious ways of building a sustainable future and using expanded metal products is one way of limiting overuse of non-renewable resources. We encourage companies to consider the benefits that will accrue from replacing solid steel products with expanded metal alternatives,” van Rooyen concludes.