Powder Mesh Sizes

Understanding particle size is critical for formulation, blending, and tableting. If you are looking for a deeper dive into how particle size impacts your manufacturing process, check out our Nutraceuticals Mesh Size Blog.

Otherwise, use the table below to quickly convert US and European units of powder particle size (granulometry) across Mesh, Sieve, Microns (μm), Millimeters (mm), and Inches.

Note: Most of our standard food and nutraceutical ingredients fall within the 20 to 200 Mesh range.

Mesh	Sieve Designation	Microns (μm)	mm	inches	Examples
1 in.	25.4 mm	25400	25.4	1
7/8 in.	22.6 mm	22600	22.6	0.875
3/4 in.	19.0 mm	19000	19	0.75
5/8 in.	16.0 mm	16000	16	0.625
0.530 in.	13.5 mm	13500	13.5	0.53
1/2 in.	12.7 mm	12700	12.7	0.5
7/16 in.	11.2 mm	11200	11.2	0.438
3/8 in.	9.51 mm	9510	9.51	0.375
5/16 in.	8.00 mm	8000	8	0.312
0.265 in.	6.73 mm	6730	6.73	0.265
1/4 in.	6.35 mm	6350	6.35	0.25
No.3 1/2	5.66 mm	5660	5.66	0.223
No. 4	4.76 mm	4760	4.76	0.187
No. 5	4.00 mm	4000	4	0.157
No. 6	3.36 mm	3360	3.36	0.132
No. 7	2.83 mm	2830	2.83	0.111
No. 8	2.38 mm	2380	2.38	0.0937
No. 10	2.00 mm	2000	2	0.0787
No. 12	1.68 mm	1680	1.68	0.0661
No. 14	1.41 mm	1410	1.41	0.0555
No. 16	1.19 mm	1190	1.19	0.0469
No. 18	1.00 mm	1000	1	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	0.5	0.0197
No. 40	420μm	420	0.42	0.0165
No. 45	354μm	354	0.354	0.0139
No. 50	297μm	297	0.297	0.0117	~ Caster Sugar
No. 60	250μm	250	0.25	0.0098
No. 70	210μm	210	0.21	0.0083
No. 80	177μm	177	0.177	0.007
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
No. 500	25 μm	25	0.025	0.001
No. 635	20 μm	25	0.02	0.0008

Need Formulation Assistance?

Please contact our technical sales colleagues to help guide you to the exact grades and powder mesh sizes best suited for your specific products and manufacturing equipment.

How to Read Sieve & Mesh Designations

Large Openings: Larger sieve openings (1 in. to 1/4 in.) have been designated by a sieve "mesh" size that corresponds directly to the size of the opening in inches.
Small Openings: Smaller sieve "mesh" sizes (from 3 1/2 to 400) are designated by the number of openings per linear inch in the sieve.

The Plus (+) and Minus (-) Convention

The following convention is used to characterize particle size by mesh designation in specifications:

A "+" (plus) before the sieve mesh indicates the particles are retained by the sieve (they are larger than the mesh).
A "-" (minus) before the sieve mesh indicates the particles pass through the sieve (they are smaller than the mesh).
Typically, 90% or more of the particles will lie within the indicated range.

Examples

If 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).

Links:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesh_(scale)

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