Mesh (scale)

Equivalent mesh sizes from 5 μm to 25.4 mm also exist.[1][2][3]

Available sieve sizes are usually regulated by standards. Those in common use are ISO 565:1990 and ISO 3310-1:2000 (international),[4] EN 933-1(European)[5] and ASTM E11:01 (US). EN standards are available with national 'badging' so appear as BS EN, FR EN, DE, etc.

Although such information contains long lists of sieve sizes, in practice sieves are normally used in series in which each member sieve is selected to pass particles approximately 1/√2 smaller in diameter or 1/2 smaller in cross-sectional area than the previous sieve. For example the series 80mm, 63, 40, 31.5, 20, 16, 14, 10, 8, 6.3, 4, 2.8, 2 mm is routinely available in many European countries or the series with the larger steps 63, 31.5, 16, 8, 4, 2, 1 mm, 500 μm, 250, 125, 63 μm is commonly used to grade aggregates in the construction industry. Such series are somewhat derived from the principles originally established by Renard and now known as Renard series. Some users replace some of those indicated above with 45, 22.4, 12.5, 11.2 and 5.6 mm sieves, mostly because of historical usage of such sizes in their country or industry.

• A comparison of widely used sieve size specifications