There are two main subtypes of extruded netting, square and diamond, which is derived from the manufacturing process used to produce them. Extruded netting is also commonly categorized by its composition. As a result extruded netting is often referred to as extruded plastic netting since the most common materials are polypropylene and polyethylene which are available in high, medium, and low density. Extruded netting can also be made with polyester, polyamide 6, ethylene vinyl acetate, among others.

In order to produce extruded netting, thermoplastic pellets are funneled into an extruder. There, the thermoplastic pellets are heated, melted, and pushed through a die of the desired final cross-section.

The netting is then extruded vertically through a die which is patterned to create a specific shape. The resulting net is extruded into a body of water to rapidly cool the netting, helping it harden and maintain its shape. There are two main subtypes of extruded netting, square and diamond

Extruded Square Netting

In extruded square netting, the machine direction (MD) strands are thicker than the cross direction (CD) strands and the MD/CD strands are fused together at the intersections. The MD strands lay parallel to the roll length while the CD strands are perpendicular to the MD strands.

Extruded square netting is also known as mono-planar because the thicker MD strands produces different topographies on either side of the netting, causing one side of the netting to be flat and the other side to be uneven.

After the initial extrusion process, the square netting can be further shaped through an orientation process where the netting is reheated and elongated in the desired direction (MD/CD/both). Through the orientation process, an extruded net with finer strands can be produced for specific applications.

Extruded Diamond Netting

Unlike square netting, the MD and CD strands in an extruded diamond patterned netting are the same thickness. In addition, instead of having the MD and CD strands fuse together at the intersections, the two strands are simply overlapped at the intersection. Thus, the thickness of a diamond netting will basically be the sum of the thicknesses of the two strands.

Diamond netting is known as bi-planar because both sides of the material are the same, unlike in square netting. Since both the MD and CD strands in a diamond netting pattern are the same size, there is no difference in topography on either side of the netting.

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