The mass per unit of area of paper
"Paper weight" redirects here. For the heavy desktop object, see
paperweight
.
Grammage
and
basis weight
, in the
pulp and paper
industry, are the
area density
of a
paper
product, that is, its
mass
per unit of
area
. Two ways of expressing grammage are commonly used:
- Expressed in
grams
(g) per
square metre
(g/m
2
), regardless of its thickness (
caliper
).
[1]
This is the measure used in most parts of the world. It is often notated as gsm on paper product labels and spec sheets.
- Expressed in terms of the mass per number of sheets of a specific
paper size
, known as
basis weight
. The convention used in the United States and a few other countries using US-standard paper sizes is
pounds
(lb) per a
ream
of 500 (or in some cases 1000) sheets of a given (raw, still uncut) basis size. Japanese paper is expressed as the weight in
kilograms
(kg) per 1,000 sheets.
Grammage
[
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]
In the
metric system
, the mass per unit area of all types of paper and paperboard is expressed in terms of
grams per square metre
(g/m
2
or gsm). This quantity is commonly called
grammage
in both
English
and
French
,
[2]
though printers in most English-speaking countries still refer to the "
weight
" of paper.
Typical office paper has 80 g/m
2
(0.26 oz/sq ft), therefore a typical
A4
sheet (
1
⁄
16
of a square metre) weighs 5 g (0.18 oz). The abbreviation "gsm" instead of the standard "g/m
2
" symbol is also widely encountered in
English-speaking countries
.
Typically grammage is measured in
paper mill
on-line by a
quality control system
and verified by laboratory measurement.
Basis weight
[
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]
In countries that use
American paper sizes
, a less verifiable measure known as
basis weight
is used in addition to or instead of grammage. The basis weight of paper is the density of paper expressed in terms of the mass of a
ream
of given dimensions and a sheet count. In the US system, the weight is specified in
avoirdupois
pounds
and the sheet count of a
paper ream
is usually 500 sheets. However, the mass specified is not the mass of the ream that is sold to the customer. Instead, it is the mass of the uncut "basis ream" in which the sheets have some larger size (parent size). Often, that is a size used during the manufacturing process before the paper is cut to the dimensions in which it is sold. So, to compute the mass per area, one must know
- the mass of the basis ream,
- the number of sheets in that ream, and
- the dimensions of an "uncut" sheet in that ream.
The standard dimensions and sheet count of a ream vary according to the type of paper. These "uncut" basis sizes are not normally labelled on the product, are not formally standardized, and therefore have to be guessed or inferred somehow from trading practice. Historically, this convention is the product of pragmatic considerations such as the size of a sheet mold.
By using the same basis sheet size for the same type of paper, consumers can easily compare papers of differing brands. Twenty-pound bond paper is always lighter and thinner than 32-pound bond, no matter what its cut size, and 20-pound bond
letter size
and 20-pound bond
legal size
papers are the same weight paper with a different cut size.
However, a sheet of common copy paper that has a basis weight of 20 pounds (9.1 kg) does not have the same mass as the same size sheet of coarse paper (newsprint). In the former case, the standard ream is 500 sheets of 17-by-22-inch (432 by 559 mm) paper, and in the latter, 500 sheets of 24-by-36-inch (610 by 914 mm) paper. Here are some basic ream sizes for various types of paper. Units are inches except where noted.
Paper type
|
Paper size
(inches)
|
Sheets per ream
|
Bond, writing, ledger
|
17
|
× 22
|
500
|
Manuscript cover
|
18
|
× 31
|
500
|
Blotting
|
19
|
× 24
|
500
|
Box cover
|
20
|
× 24
|
500
|
Cover
|
20
|
× 26
|
500 or 1000
|
Watercolor
|
22
|
× 30
|
500
|
Bristol and tag
|
22
+
1
⁄
2
|
×
28
+
1
⁄
2
|
500
|
Tissue
|
24
|
× 36
|
480
|
Newsprint
|
24
|
× 36
|
500
|
Hanging, waxing, bag, etc.
|
24
|
× 36
|
500
|
Book, text, offset
|
25
|
× 38
|
500
|
Index bristol
|
25
+
1
⁄
2
|
×
30
+
1
⁄
2
|
500
|
Paperboard (all types)
|
12
|
× 12
|
1000 (
1000 sq ft
per ream)
|
Sheets 17 by 22 inches (432 by 559 mm) can be cut into four
8
+
1
⁄
2
-by-11-inch (216 by 279 mm) sheets, a standard for business stationery known conventionally as
letter sized paper
. So, the 17-by-22-inch (432 by 559 mm) ream became commonly used. The 25-by-38-inch (635 by 965 mm) book-paper ream developed because such a size can easily be
cut into sixteen
6-by-9-inch (152 by 229 mm)
book sized
sheets without significant waste (nominally
6
+
1
⁄
4
-by-
9
+
1
⁄
2
-inch (159 by 241 mm) before trimming and binding).
Early newsprint presses printed sheets 2 by 3 feet (610 by 914 mm) in size, and so the ream dimensions for newsprint became 24 by 36 inches (610 by 914 mm), with 500 sheets to a ream. Newsprint was made from ground wood pulp, and ground wood hanging paper (
wallpaper
) was made on newsprint machines. Newsprint was used as wrapping paper, and the first paper bags were made from newsprint. The newsprint ream standard also became the standard for packaging papers, even though in packaging papers
kraft
pulp, rather than ground wood, was used for greater strength.
Paper weight is sometimes stated using the "
#
" symbol. For example, "20#" means "20 pounds per basis ream of that kind of paper". When the density of a ream of paper is given in pounds, it is often accompanied by its "M weight" (M is 1000 in
Roman numerals
). The M weight is the weight (in pounds) of 1000 cut sheets. Paper suppliers will often charge by M weight, since it is always consistent within a specific paper size, and because it allows a simple weight calculation for shipping charges.
For example, a 500-sheet ream of 20#
8
+
1
⁄
2
-by-11-inch (216 by 279 mm) copy paper may be specified "10 M". 1000 cut sheets (or two reams) will weigh 10 lb (4.5 kg), half of the four reams of cut paper resulting from the 20# basis ream of 17-by-22-inch (432 by 559 mm) paper.
Caliper
[
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]
Paper thickness, or caliper, is a common measurement specified and required for certain printing applications. Since a paper's
density
is typically not directly known or specified, the thickness of any sheet of paper cannot be calculated by any method. Instead, it is measured and specified separately as its
caliper
. However, paper thickness for most typical business papers might be similar across comparable brands. If thickness is not specified for a paper in question, it must be either measured or guessed based on a comparable paper's specification.
Caliper is usually measured in
micrometres
(μm), or in the United States also in
mils
(1 mil =
1
⁄
1000
in = 25.4 μm). Commonly, 20-pound
bond paper
ranges between roughly 97 and 114 μm (0.0038 and 0.0045 in) in thickness.
[3]
The
paper density
is calculated by
dividing
the grammage over the caliper, and is usually expressed in
grams per cubic centimetre
(g/cm
3
)
[4]
to
cancel out
the mathematical need for
unit conversions
between
metres
and micrometres (a
conversion factor
of 1,000,000).
[
citation needed
]
See also
[
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]
References
[
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]
External links
[
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]