How To Understand Steel Gauges?

Overview

Steel gauge is a common metal material measurement value in steel, and as a steel user, these are knowledge that you must understand. This article provides a detailed introduction to the content of steel gauges from multiple aspects such as their definition, history, and steel gauge chart. I believe that after reading it, you will have a comprehensive understanding of steel gauges.

1.What Is A Steel Gauge?

Steel gauge is a standardized method for measuring and distinguishing steel plate products, such as sheet metal, coil material,wire and pipe etc. Surprisingly, as the number of steel gauges increases, the thickness of the steel actually decreases. For example, 10 gauge steel is thicker than 12 gauge steel. The thickness of the steel plate varies from 3GA (thickest) to 38GA (thinnest). Note that "gauge" is sometimes spelled as "gage" or "GA" as an abbreviation.

2.History Of Steel Gauge

2.1 Where Does The Measurement Come From?

Where do the measurements come from? You must also be very interested to know.

Steel gauges have their origins in the wire industry during the industrial revolution in England, when there was no common unit for thickness. The size of the wire gauge number was determined by the wire drawing process and the nature of the iron. Workers drawing metal wire would calculate the diameter based on the number of draws, which was the gauge (so the larger the gauge, the thinner the material). The more times the wire is drawn, the thinner the wire becomes, and this inverse relationship continues with sheet and other non-metallic wire products.

2.2 Why Are They Used Instead Of Inches Or Millimeters?

You can also find some answers to this question from the description in the previous paragraph. Because during the industrial revolution in England, there was no common unit for thickness. That's why which workers who drew metal wires calculated the diameter based on the number of draws. And the use of inches and millimeters was only slowly and widely used until the 19th century, when the steel gauge was gradually replaced by inches or millimeters. Currently, the steel gauge is still used in some areas.

3.Picking The Right Steel Gauge

For objects that require rigidity and edges, you can use thicker (or lower specification) steel. However, for some objects that require flexibility or flexibility, you need to use thinner (or higher specification) steel to adapt to this situation.

4.How To Read A Steel Gauge Thickness Chart?

In practice, in most cases, we need to read the steel gauge thickness chart. Small through the organization, deliberately the commonly used metal steel gauge thickness table summarized down, next, take you to see how these tables are read, as well as what are the relevant content in the table.

4.1 Sheet Metal Gauge Chart

First, take a look at sheet metal gauge chart. Ferrous metals use a different metering system than non-ferrous metals like copper, which are measured in ounces per square foot.

4.2 Carbon Steel/Mild Steel Gauge Chart

Mild Steel/Carbon Steel
Gauge	Decimal Equivalent [in]	Decimal Equivalent [mm]
3	0.239	6.07
4	0.224	5.69
5	0.209	5.31
6	0.194	4.94
7	0.179	4.55
8	0.164	4.18
9	0.150	3.8
10	0.135	3.42
11	0.120	3.04
12	0.105	2.66
13	0.090	2.28
14	0.075	1.9
15	0.067	1.71
16	0.060	1.52
17	0.054	1.37
18	0.048	1.21
19	0.042	1.06
20	0.036	0.91
21	0.033	0.84
22	0.030	0.76
23	0.027	0.68
24	0.024	0.61
25	0.021	0.53
26	0.018	0.45
28	0.015	0.38

4.3 Galvanized Steel Gauge Chart

Galvanized Steel
Gauge	Decimal Equivalent [in]	Decimal Equivalent [mm]
8	0.168	4.27
9	0.153	3.89
10	0.138	3.51
11	0.123	3.13
12	0.108	2.75
13	0.093	2.37
14	0.079	1.99
15	0.071	1.8
16	0.064	1.61
17	0.058	1.46
18	0.052	1.31
19	0.046	1.16
20	0.040	1.01
21	0.034	0.93
22	0.034	0.85
23	0.031	0.78
24	0.028	0.7
25	0.025	0.63
26	0.022	0.55
28	0.019	0.47

4.4 Stainless Steel Gauge Chart

Stainless Steel
Gauge	Decimal Equivalent [in]	Decimal Equivalent [mm]
3	0.250	6.35
4	0.234	5.94
5	0.219	5.56
6	0.203	5.16
7	0.188	4.76
8	0.172	4.37
9	0.156	3.97
10	0.141	3.57
11	0.125	3.18
12	0.109	2.78
13	0.094	2.39
14	0.078	1.98
15	0.070	1.78
16	0.063	1.59
17	0.056	1.42
18	0.050	1.27
19	0.044	1.12
20	0.038	0.95
21	0.034	0.86
22	0.031	0.79
23	0.028	0.71
24	0.025	0.64
25	0.022	0.56
26	0.019	0.48
28	0.016	0.41

4.5 Aluminum Gauge Chart

Gauges are used to represent the thickness of metal plates. It is not standard or metric, and its value is independent of this measurement system. A thickness gauge can be used to determine the actual thickness of a metal plate, in inches or millimeters. Different metal types, even the same steel gauges, have different thicknesses. For example, the thickness of 18 steel gauge is 0.0478 inches or 1.214 millimeters. But the thickness of the 18 aluminum gauge is 0.0403 inches.

Aluminum Gauge Chart
Gauge	Decimal Equivalent [in]	Decimal Equivalent [mm]
3	0.229	5.83
4	0.204	5.19
5	0.182	4.62
6	0.162	4.11
7	0.144	3.67
8	0.129	3.26
9	0.114	2.91
10	0.102	2.59
11	0.091	2.30
12	0.081	2.05
13	0.072	1.83
14	0.064	1.63
15	0.057	1.45
16	0.051	1.29
17	0.045	1.14
18	0.040	1.02
19	0.036	0.91
20	0.032	0.81
21	0.028	0.71
22	0.025	0.64
23	0.023	0.58
24	0.020	0.51
25	0.018	0.46
26	0.017	0.43
28	0.013	0.32

4.6 Brass Gauge Charts

Brass Gauge Chart
Gauge Number	Inches	MM
7	.1443	3.665
8	.1285	3.264
9	.1144	2.906
10	.1019	2.588
11	.09074	2.305
12	.08081	2.053
14	.06408	1.628
16	.05082	1.291
18	.04030	1.024
20	.03196	.812
22	.02535	.644
24	.02010	.511
26	.01594	.405
28	.01264	.321
30	.01003	.255

4.7 Copper Gauge Chart

Copper Gauge Chart
Gauge Number	Inches	MM
7	.180	4.572
8	.165	4.191
9	.148	3.759
10	.134	3.404
11	.120	3.048
12	.109	2.769
14	.083	2.108
16	.065	1.651
18	.049	1.245
20	.035	.889
22	.028	.711
24	.022	.559
26	.018	.457
28	.014	.356
30	.012	.305

4.8 Zinc Gauge Chart

Gauge	Thickness		Weight Per Area
Gauge	in	mm	lb/ft²	kg/m²
28	1	25.4	37.152	181.392
27	0.5	12.7	18.576	90.696
26	0.375	9.525	13.932	68.022
25	0.25	6.35	9.288	45.348
24	0.125	3.175	4.644	22.674
23	0.1	2.54	3.715	18.139
22	0.09	2.286	3.344	16.325
21	0.08	2.032	2.972	14.511
20	0.07	1.778	2.601	12.697
19	0.06	1.524	2.229	10.884
18	0.055	1.397	2.043	9.977
17	0.05	1.27	1.858	9.07
16	0.045	1.143	1.672	8.163
15	0.04	1.016	1.486	7.256
14	0.036	0.914	1.337	6.53
13	0.032	0.813	1.189	5.805
12	0.028	0.711	1.04	5.079
11	0.024	0.61	0.892	4.353
10	0.02	0.508	0.743	3.628
9	0.018	0.457	0.669	3.265
8	0.016	0.406	0.594	2.902
7	0.014	0.356	0.52	2.539
6	0.012	0.305	0.446	2.177
5	0.01	0.254	0.372	1.814
4	0.008	0.203	0.297	1.451
3	0.006	0.152	0.223	1.088
2	0.004	0.102	0.149	0.726
1	0.002	0.051	0.074	0.363

4.9 Birmingham Gauge Chart

Gauge	Thickness
Gauge	inch	mm
0000000	0.6666	16.932
000000	0.6250	15.875
00000	0.5883	14.943
0000	0.5416	13.757
000	0.5000	12.700
00	0.4452	11.308
0	0.3964	10.069
1	0.3532	8.971
2	0.3147	7.993
3	0.2804	7.122
4	0.2500	6.350
5	0.2225	5.652
6	0.1981	5.032
7	0.1764	4.481
8	0.1570	3.988
9	0.1398	3.551
10	0.1250	3.175
11	0.1113	2.827
12	0.0991	2.517
13	0.0882	2.240
14	0.0785	1.994
15	0.0699	1.775
16	0.0625	1.588
17	0.0556	1.412
18	0.0495	1.257
19	0.0440	1.118
20	0.0392	0.996
21	0.0349	0.886
22	0.0312	0.792
23	0.0278	0.706
24	0.0247	0.627
25	0.0220	0.559
26	0.0196	0.498
27	0.0174	0.442
28	0.0156	0.396
29	0.0139	0.353
30	0.0123	0.312
31	0.0110	0.279
32	0.0098	0.249
33	0.0087	0.221
34	0.0077	0.196
35	0.0069	0.175
36	0.0061	0.155
37	0.0054	0.137
38	0.0048	0.122
39	0.0043	0.109
40	0.0038	0.097
41	0.0034	0.086
42	0.0030	0.076
43	0.0027	0.069
44	0.0024	0.061
45	0.0021	0.053
46	0.0019	0.048
47	0.0017	0.043
48	0.0016	0.041
49	0.0013	0.033
50	0.0012	0.030
51	0.0011	0.027
52	0.0010	0.024

5.Summary

Steel gauge is important value for steel or metal user.The larger the steel gauge value, the thinner the metal thickness. You must not consider this matter according to conventional linear measurement thinking. If you still have any questions,please contact us now!

FAQ

1.How thick is 12 gauge steel?

12 gauge steel means that the thickness:

Approximate thickness in fractions of 7/64 inches 。

Approximate thickness 2.778125 mm.

2.How thick is 20 gauge steel?

20 gauge steel means that the thickness:

Approximate thickness in fractions of 3/80 inches 。

Approximate thickness 0.9525 mm.

3.Which is thicker 10 or 11 gauge steel?

10 gauge steel is thicker than 11 guage steel.

4.What is thicker 14 or 16 gauge steel?

14 gauge steel is thicker than 16 gauge steel.

5.What is better 12 or 14 gauge steel?

In the gauge system the higher the number the thinner the steel. As an example, 12 gauge steel is thicker and stronger than 14 gauge steel.

6.Is 10 gauge steel thick?

For sheet metal, a retrogressive scale (higher numbers mean lower thickness) that starts with 10 gauge representing a thickness of 3.416 millimeters or 0.1345 inches. ... For example, a 12 gauge sheet is 2.732 millimeters thick, and a 13 gauge sheet is 2.391 millimeters thick.

7.Is 10 gauge steel strong?

A door made from 10-gauge (. 135) steel is over twice as strong as one made from 12-gauge (. 106) steel even though it is only . 029 thicker (see Steel Strength Chart).

8.What is thicker 12 or 13 gauge steel?

12 gauge steel is thicker than 13 gauge steel.

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