Powder Mesh Sizes

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Powder Mesh Sizes
Table to convert US and European units of powder particle size (granulometry) – Mesh / Sieve / Microns / mm / inches

Most of our food ingredients are in the range 20-200 Mesh

Please contact our friendly and knowledgeable technical sales colleagues to help guide you to the best grades of powders to suit your products.

Mesh	Sieve Designation	Microns (μm)	mm	inches	Examples
1 in.	25.4 mm	25400	25.400	1.0000
7/8 in.	22.6 mm	22600	22.600	0.8750
3/4 in.	19.0 mm	19000	19.000	0.7500
5/8 in.	16.0 mm	16000	16.000	0.6250
0.530 in.	13.5 mm	13500	13.500	0.5300
1/2 in.	12.7 mm	12700	12.700	0.5000
7/16 in.	11.2 mm	11200	11.200	0.4380
3/8 in.	9.51 mm	9510	9.510	0.3750
5/16 in.	8.00 mm	8000	8.000	0.3120
0.265 in.	6.73 mm	6730	6.730	0.2650
1/4 in.	6.35 mm	6350	6.350	0.2500
No.3 1/2	5.66 mm	5660	5.660	0.2230
No. 4	4.76 mm	4760	4.760	0.1870
No. 5	4.00 mm	4000	4.000	0.1570
No. 6	3.36 mm	3360	3.360	0.1320
No. 7	2.83 mm	2830	2.830	0.1110
No. 8	2.38 mm	2380	2.380	0.0937
No. 10	2.00 mm	2000	2.000	0.0787
No. 12	1.68 mm	1680	1.680	0.0661
No. 14	1.41 mm	1410	1.410	0.0555
No. 16	1.19 mm	1190	1.190	0.0469
No. 18	1.00 mm	1000	1.000	0.0394
No. 20	841μm	841	0.841	0.0331
No. 25	707μm	707	0.707	0.0278
No. 30	595μm	595	0.595	0.0234	~ Granulated Sugar
No. 35	500μm	500	0.500	0.0197
No. 40	420μm	420	0.420	0.0165
No. 45	354μm	354	0.354	0.0139
No. 50	297μm	297	0.297	0.0117	~ Caster Sugar
No. 60	250μm	250	0.250	0.0098
No. 70	210μm	210	0.210	0.0083
No. 80	177μm	177	0.177	0.0070
No. 100	149μm	149	0.149	0.0059
No. 120	125μm	125	0.125	0.0049
No. 140	105μm	105	0.105	0.0041
No. 170	88μm	88	0.088	0.0035
No. 200	74μm	74	0.074	0.0029	200 Mesh and finer is normally considered Micronised
No. 230	63μm	63	0.063	0.0025	~ Icing Sugar
No. 270	53μm	53	0.053	0.0021
No. 325	44μm	44	0.044	0.0017
No. 400	37μm	37	0.037	0.0015

Larger sieve openings (1 in. to 1/4 in.) have been designated by a sieve “mesh” size that corresponds to the size of the opening in inches. 
Smaller sieve “mesh” sizes of 3 1/2 to 400 are designated by the number of openings per linear inch in the sieve.
The following convention is used to characterize particle size by mesh designation:
a “+” before the sieve mesh indicates the particles are retained by the sieve;
a “-” before the sieve mesh indicates the particles pass through the sieve;
typically 90% or more of the particles will lie within the indicated range.

For example, if the particle size of a material is described as -4 +40 mesh, then 90% or more of the material will pass through a 4-mesh sieve (particles smaller than 4.76 mm) and be retained by a 40-mesh sieve (particles larger than 0.420 mm).  

If a material is described as -40 mesh, then 90% or more of the material will pass through a 40-mesh sieve (particles smaller than 0.420 mm).