Metal Mesh: history, uses, products, applications, prices, textures

In the most recent decades, there have been many discoveries and innovations that have concerned the field of industry and architecture. The discovery of new “building products” is linked not only to the desire to give vent to the inherent creativity of designers and architects but also to the possibility of knowing and using materials with excellent performance and intended uses.

This is exactly what happened with the discovery of the use of metal mesh in many fields of application.

But first let's take a look at the evolution of metal mesh’s use and how it came to be used in industry and architecture.

One of the first uses of the wire metal mesh, documented by historians, dates back to the period of ancient Egypt when it was used for the creation of jewels, a practice that, later, was taken up by the Vikings with the same purpose.

Things start to change from the V Century onwards, when the use of wire mesh begins to be considered important in various fields of application: in the textile sector, thanks to the growth that was experiencing, it was soon realized that it was possible to weave metal wire.

The Chain mail, also called Mail, was a form of body armour worn by European knights and other military men throughout most of the medieval period.

Chainmail equipment

The metal wire mesh was only one of the first materials whose use was found in history: subsequently, perforated sheet metal and expanded metal are two other categories of materials similar to metal meshes, or metal nets, which have their presence in the market progressively asserted themselves and have been adopted for ever increasing uses in various industrial sectors.

In fact, the versatility of its characteristics leads the wire mesh to be a product with high industrial use, especially in the sectors of filtration, soundproofing and carpentry in general.

Not to mention the ever-growing examples of applications of metal mesh in architectural coatings described later in the article.

For example, see the vault of the entrance to the Baku airport in Azerbaijan made of expanded metal.

Heydar Aliyey International Airport in Baku. L Holding Archive