MicroGrid® Expanded Support & Primary Filter Materials

Separation and purification are key criteria for industries that process water, food & beverages, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. Dexmet custom manufactures all MicroGrid® materials in a multitude of open area designs with controlled pore sizes to provide a more consistent flow rate for your filter application.

If your filter application has a critical upstream/downstream or cross flow requirement, our Engineering Department will partner with you to develop the optimum design to maximize performance and workability. Whether it’s improving liquid flow rate, air flow, strength, or particle retention, Dexmet can provide a material that will give your design the performance advantage.

Applications

• Internal Core Material: Media Support & Backing
• Primary Filtration
• Pre-Filters

Advantages

• Economical Option to Alternative Materials
• Uniform Material: One Piece Homogenous Design
  • Assures media integrity under dynamic flow conditions
• Engineered Pore Sizes to Achieve Flow, Pressure Drop, and Collapse Pressure Requirements

Features

• Pore Size Starting at 25 Microns (.001”)
• Base Material Thickness Down to .025mm (.001”)
• 1300+ Openings/cm²
• Widths to 1200 mm (48”)

Common Materials

Stainless Steel, Aluminum, Nickel Alloys, & Carbon Steel (FE).
Dexmet has the capability to expand all ductile metals.

Purpose

Filters (or pre-filters) that are designed to remove large particulates (over 0.5 mm in diameter) must be made to withstand impact stresses as well as fluid pressure. “Open” (expanded, perforated or woven wire) metal foils are frequently used for this function because they can be easily formed for the specific application.

Design Considerations

• Filtration Rating: Particulate passage is controlled by the opening size or “pore” diameter of the media and is designated by a Micron rating. The opening configuration (pore) might be diamond-shaped (expanded), square (woven wire), or round (perforated). Designate the opening according to the particle size required to be separated out of the flow path.


• Backpressure: Flow backpressure results from the “percent open area” and the degree of particulate build-up on the media surface. Choose a material that will more than withstand the full pressure drop across a blocked surface area.


• Filter Strength: Ultimate strength is controlled by material selection, thickness, percent open area and pore geometry. Multiple layers of filter material with varied openings can improve flow, purification, and withstand higher backpressures.


• Flow restriction is determined primarily by “percent open area” and secondarily by hole geometry.


• Resistance to corrosion and/or thermal deformation is controlled primarily by material selection.

Dexmet® Advantages Over Alternative Materials

• Dexmet offers a wide range of expanded metal foils and can produce rolls up to 1,200mm (48”) in width.


• Dexmet’s precision expansion process ensures high reproducibility leading to a more consistent final product and lower cost of quality.


• Dexmet’s expansion process produces more finished product per pound of raw material than perforation. Scrap is also minimized because there is virtually no waste. The expansion process is the preferred choice when your design utilizes expensive, hard to procure materials.


• Woven material can achieve smaller pore sizes than either expanded or perforated products. However, woven material has a tendency to “unwind” at the edges, which can lead to quality and/or manufacturing problems as well as safety issues. More importantly, the strands can move under dynamic flow conditions changing the geometry of the opening and potentially allowing larger particles to pass through.