The pound per square inch (abbreviation: psi) or, more accurately, pound-force per square inch (symbol: lbf/in2),[1] is a unit of measurement of pressure or of stress based on avoirdupois units. It is the pressure resulting from a force with magnitude of one pound-force applied to an area of one square inch. In SI units, 1 psi is approximately 6,895 pascals.

Quick Facts General information, Unit system ...
Pound per square inch
Thumb
A pressure gauge reading in psi (red scale) and kPa (black scale)
General information
Unit systemImperial units, US customary units
Unit ofPressure, stress
Symbolpsi,lbf/in2
Conversions
1 psi in ...... is equal to ...
   SI units   6.894757 kPa
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The pound per square inch absolute (psia) is used to make it clear that the pressure is relative to a vacuum rather than the ambient atmospheric pressure. Since atmospheric pressure at sea level is around 14.7 psi (101 kilopascals), this will be added to any pressure reading made in air at sea level. The converse is pound per square inch gauge (psig), indicating that the pressure is relative to atmospheric pressure. For example, a bicycle tire pumped up to 65 psig in a local atmospheric pressure at sea level (14.7 psi) will have a pressure of 79.7 psia (14.7 psi + 65 psi).[2][3] When gauge pressure is referenced to something other than ambient atmospheric pressure, then the unit is pound per square inch differential (psid).

Multiples

The kilopound per square inch (ksi) is a scaled unit derived from psi, equivalent to a thousand psi (1000 lbf/in2).

ksi are not widely used for gas pressures. They are mostly used in materials science, where the tensile strength of a material is measured as a large number of psi.[4]

The conversion in SI units is 1 ksi = 6.895 MPa, or 1 MPa = 0.145 ksi.

The megapound per square inch (Mpsi) is another multiple equal to a million psi. It is used in mechanics for the elastic modulus of materials, especially for metals.[5]

The conversion in SI units is 1 Mpsi = 6.895 GPa, or 1 GPa = 0.145 Mpsi.

Magnitude

Conversions

The conversions to and from SI are computed from exact definitions but result in a repeating decimal. [6][7]

As the pascal is a very small unit relative to industrial pressures, the kilopascal is commonly used. 1000 kPa ≈ 145 lbf/in2.

Approximate conversions (rounded to some arbitrary number of digits, except when denoted by "≡") are shown in the following table.

More information Pascal, Bar ...
Pressure units
Pascal Bar Technical atmosphere Standard atmosphere Torr Pound per square inch
(Pa) (bar) (at) (atm) (Torr) (lbf/in2)
1 Pa 1 Pa = 10−5 bar 1 Pa = 1.0197×10−5 at 1 Pa = 9.8692×10−6 atm 1 Pa = 7.5006×10−3 Torr 1 Pa = 0.000145037737730 lbf/in2
1 bar 105 = 1.0197 = 0.98692 = 750.06 = 14.503773773022
1 at 98066.5 0.980665 0.9678411053541 735.5592401 14.2233433071203
1 atm 101325 1.01325 1.0332 760 14.6959487755142
1 Torr 133.322368421 0.001333224 0.00135951 1/7600.001315789 0.019336775
1 lbf/in2 6894.757293168 0.068947573 0.070306958 0.068045964 51.714932572
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See also

References

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