Floor Gratings
The term “floor grating” is a term that covers the wide variety of frameworks used as flooring or flooring supplemental features. In general, grates are made up of patterned, slotted and/or perforated bars and sheets, configured to a grid. Bars and sheets are typically made either from metal or from fiber-reinforced plastic. Floor grating in particular is used to improve flooring with better grip, filtering, draining and the like. Floor gratings can boost slip resistance and decrease the risk of falls because their grid work creates a textured surface. They improve ventilation and/or visibility in high risk workplaces like warehouses and factories by allowing air, light and sound to pass through them. Also, when they function as drain grates, floor gratings allow water, oil and other potentially hazardous liquids and debris to exit from floor surfaces.
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Materials in Floor Gratings
Floor grating may be permanently installed on top of the existing floor, permanently installed as primary flooring or placed in areas temporarily as mobile grating. As noted, floor gratings may be constructed either from metal or from fiber reinforced plastics. Typically the metals chosen include brass, iron, stainless steel and, from time to time, aluminum. The fiber reinforced plastics used in floor grating fabrication may be made from a variety of different plastic and fiber combinations. Possible plastics include vinyl ester resin, polyester resin, epoxy and vinylester. The vast majority of the time, the chosen fiber is a glass fiber. Glass fibers may be made with a number of different types of glasses, containing various possible minerals, such as: silica or silicate, limestone, dolomite, colemanite, magnesium, calcium, fluorspar and kaolin clay. When the chosen plastic is reinforced with the glass fiber, it becomes a fiber reinforced plastic known as fiberglass.
Floor Grating Manufacturing Process
The type of material chosen for floor grating fabrication largely affects the manufacturing methods chosen with which carry it out. Some of the manufacturing processes appropriate for metal floor grating fabrication are not appropriate for fiberglass floor grating fabrication, and vice versa. For example, punch pressing is a technique that can only be used on metal sheets. It is used when manufacturers want to create patterns by knocking out holes. Likewise, expansion is reserved for metal grates. Expansion is a process by which metal grates are expanded. This is achieved by slitting metal sheets and then putting them through various heating and pressing processes. Note that this process uses almost all to all of the metal and thus creates little to no waste. Fiber reinforced plastic floor gratings and fiberglass floor gratings, on the other hand, are created using a technique specific to them. This process involves weaving continuous strands of fiber through thermosetting plastics before they cool. One type of grating into which both metal and plastic floor gratings may be formed is bar grating. To create both metal and plastic bar grating, manufacturers have a few different metalworking options. These include riveting, swaging, pressure-locking or welding. The first method, riveting, may be performed manually or with a riveting machine. Riveting machines work by automatically squeezing rivets, a type of permanent mechanical fastener, into the workpiece. The second metalworking option, swaging, is a cold working process that works like extrusion; it involves changing the dimensions of a workpiece by forcing it through a die. Next, pressure-locking, a process that bonds grate bars together, works by placing extreme amounts of hydraulic pressure onto the bars, typically two at a time. Finally, welding works by heating two ends of two separate bars until they melt, and then fusing them together. Whether metal or plastic, most bar grating is fabricated in a rectangular pattern or a diamond pattern, which is created by reinforcing the rectangle configurations with diagonal bars. In addition to bar grating, types of metal and plastic grating that can be used for flooring include: circular mesh grates, square mesh grates, rectangular mesh grates, bearing bar grates and cross bar grates.
Applications of Floor Grating
Floor grating has applications in many industries, including chemical processing, food processing, heating and cooling, metalworking, mining, oil and gas, pulp and paper and refrigeration. Floor grates are also widely installed on sidewalks and city streets and on bridges and docks. To get these grates to permit the desired amount of drainage or filtering, without causing injury or the loss of equipment, the grate bars must have properly sized gaps or perforations. To this end, standard perforation sizes, matched with specific environments, are typically available for purchase from floor grating specialists. However, never hesitate to discuss a custom sizing for your application with your manufacturer. For the best experience, contact one of the many knowledgeable and experienced floor grating manufacturers found on this page.