Short for grams per square meter, written gsm or g/m2, it is spoken as one word-like unit, so a fabric is a 12 gsm spunbond or a 300 gsm felt. North American sales sometimes quote ounces per square yard, especially for geotextiles and needle felts, where 1 oz/yd2 is about 34 gsm. Line crews use the number as the product name, so going to the 10 gsm means a grade change.
Heard on the job
Next order is 17 gsm SMS, so slow the belt and leave the MB throughput alone.
Also heard as
- g/m2
- grams per square meter
Related terms
Basis weight
Mass of a nonwoven per unit area, almost always given in grams per square meter.
SMS
Spunbond-meltblown-spunbond: a three-layer composite of strong spunbond outer layers around a meltblown barrier core.
CV
Coefficient of variation: standard deviation divided by the mean, the yardstick of nonwoven uniformity.