Perforated metal specifications
Technical specification reference for perforated metal sheets, hole geometries, open area calculations, and material tolerances.
Specific pattern technical tables
Specification Quick Reference
Standard manufacturing capabilities
Staggered and straight row centers
Carbon steel, stainless, aluminum
Engineered for airflow and filtration
Custom cut-to-size available
Perforation technical specifications
Review standard dimensions, hole geometries, open area calculations, and dimensional tolerances for custom tooling and stock mill runs.
Hole size
Tooling accommodates miniature micro-perforations starting at 0.020 in diameter up to heavy 1 in punches for aggregate sorting. Die sets can be configured for fractional, decimal, or metric hole callouts to meet strict flow and retention needs.
Hole shape
Available geometries include staggered round, straight-row round, square pattern, end-slotted, side-slotted, and specialty architectural profiles. Shape selection directly controls media flow resistance, directional rigidity, and decorative shading.
Pitch (center-to-center)
Pitch defines the exact spacing between hole centers across adjacent rows. A 60-degree staggered pitch provides maximum structural strength and open area efficiency, while 90-degree straight lines are used for uniform ventilation channels.
Open area
Open area represents the percentage of punched void relative to total sheet surface. The value is calculated mathematically from hole size, pattern geometry, and pitch distance to optimize throughput versus structural load capacity.
Sheet thickness
Material thickness ranges from lightweight 26 gauge foil-grade sheets up to heavy 1/2 in industrial structural plate. Standard practice maintains hole diameter equal to or greater than plate thickness to prevent tooling fatigue.
Sheet size
Standard stock sheets are produced in 36×96 in, 48×96 in, 48×120 in, and 60×120 in dimensions. Continuous wide-coils can also be perforated and sheared to specified component blank lengths with zero cut-off waste.
Material
Punched in cold-rolled carbon steel, hot-rolled pickled and oiled steel, 304/316 grade stainless steels, and 3003/5052 aluminum alloys. Specialized runs can also utilize brass, copper, galvanized sheet, and weathering steels.
Tolerance
Perforation hole diameter is maintained to a tight +/-0.004 in published manufacturing tolerance across CNC punch cycles. Margin widths, blank length, and panel squareness follow standard industrial perforating guidelines.
Custom tooling & proprietary patterns
Mutual Metal maintains in-house CNC tooling to fabricate custom hole centers, end margins, unperforated border zones, and staggered pitch angles beyond catalog dimensions.
Find the right perforated pattern for your project.
Browse our standard and custom sheet specifications, or send your drawings for a direct quote from our manufacturing team.