Composite fabric reinforcements such as fiberglass and carbon fiber can be confusing, especially when comparing prices. Depending on the company, the material "weight", is published as either ounces per square yard or grams per square meter.
So when comparing two composite fabrics, it is important to be judging in the same units of measurements. Below are the conversion for grams per square meter to ounces per square yard and visa versa.
1 gram per square meter = .02949 ounces per square yard
1 ounce per square yard = 33.91 grams per square meter
So, say one needs to compare a carbon fiber fabric that weighs 300 gsm (grams per square meter), to a similar carbon fiber cloth that weighs 8 "ounces" (ounces per square yard). The key would be to get both materials into the same units. So:
(300 grams per meter squared) x ((.02949 ounces per yard squared) / (1 gram per meter squared)) = 8.847 grams per meter squared
Thus, the 300 gsm fabric is slightly heavier. If you work in the composites industry, these conversions can be helpful to store away in the memory bank.
