A Brief Note on Sheet Metal
The metal used in manufacturing of automobiles, food cans, air crafts, appliances etc. is originally in the form of large sheets. It is cost effective and easy to transport such sheets for mills to various parts of the world. Another advantage of sheet metals is that they have high elastic modulus and yield strength. This means that the products made with sheet metal have an excellent strength to weight figures. The concept of rolling metal into sheets existed for a long time when jewelry makers used gold in the form of sheet, foil or rods. In late 16th century, we saw hard metals being rolled into sheets of consistent thickness by industrial rolling mills. Automobiles also played an important role in the adaptation of sheet metal as cars must not only be light in weight but also have strength. Apart from automobiles and aircrafts, sheet metal roofing also became extremely popular, especially in the U.S. Zinc coated steel sheets are main used for roofing as they resist corrosion. With the development of CNC machines and power tools, we started to explore the possibilities of shaping, cutting, welding sheet metal into a variety of shapes.
Categories of Sheet Metal
Sheet Metal is often available in different sizes and thicknesses. You can find sheet metal as thin as 0.025mm or 0.001inch and as thick as 150mm or 6inches. Depending on the thickness, we can categorize Sheet Metal into following groups.
Leaf: This form is often used for precious metals such as gold and silver. The thickness can vary from couple of atoms to 0.025mm (0.001inch). Foil: With a thickness range of 0.025mm (0.001inch) to 0.15mm (0.06inch), Foil is slightly thicker than leaf and is generally applied to precious metals such as gold, silver, platinum and also copper, aluminum and brass. Sheet: The thickness of a flat sheet varies from 0.15mm (0.06inch) to 6mm (0.24inch). Sheets with thickness over 3mm are difficult to shape and require heavy machinery. But with sheets less than 3mm thickness, we can easily shape even with simple tools. Plate: If the thickness is greater than 6mm (0.24inch), then we call it a plate.
Sheet Metal Thickness (Gauge Sizes)
We can express the sheet metal thickness both in millimeter (mm) and inches (in). But for the sake of convenience, almost all factories, mills, manufacturers, metal workers use different gauges such as Standard Wire Gauge (SWG), Brown and Sharp Gauge (B & S) and the Birmingham Gauge (BG). Some important points about these gauges. The Brown and Sharp Gauge (B & S) is more popularly known as the American Wire Gauge (AWG) and the Birmingham Gauge is different to the Birmingham Wire Gauge (BWG). We follow the manufacturer’s Standard Gauge (based on the standard wire gauge) for indicating thickness of ferrous metals (stainless steel, standard steel and galvanized steel). For non-ferrous metals such as aluminum, copper, brass etc., we use the American Wire Gauge (AWG). There is also a separate gauge specifically for Zinc. In normal gauges (SWG, AWG, BG), smaller gauge number indicates a thicker sheet. But for Zinc, this is opposite. Higher gauge number for Zinc indicates a thicker sheet.
Sheet Metal Gauge Size Chart
Let us now see different Sheet Metal Gauge Size Chart for ferrous (Stainless Steel, Standard Sheet Steel and Galvanized Steel), non-ferrous (Aluminum) and Zinc metals. In the Sheet Metal Gauge Size Chart, you can find the thickness corresponding to a gauge number in both millimeter (mm) and inches (in). Apart from the thickness, the charts also include weight per are in both pounds per square foot (lb./ft2) and kilograms per square meter (kg/m2).
Stainless Steel
Standard Sheet Steel
Galvanized Steel
Aluminum (and other Non – Ferrous Materials)
Zinc
Conclusion
As Sheet Metal is one of the main forms of metal available for large manufacturers to small and DIY metal workers, understanding the different categories of sheet metal and also their thickness ranges are very important. In this guide, we saw a brief overview of sheet metal, different categories of sheet metal, sheet metal thickness and gauge sizes. We also learned different standards for sheet metal gauges and finally Sheet Metal Gauge Size Chart for ferrous and non-ferrous metals. SWG and AWG Sheet Metal Gauge Size Chart. Comment * Name * Email * Website
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