PSI is a crucial measurement in water blasting and other applications. What is psi? Learn more here!
What is psi? You might have come across the term when checking your tire pressure or cleaning your fence. Psi is a measurement with varying metrics and applications. Learn more about it below, as well as how it relates to Jet Blast Inc.!
What Is PSI?
Psi stands for Pounds Per Inch. One psi is the force of one pound within one square inch. The force is typically either a gas or a liquid. If it is a gas, then it would be pneumatic pressure, and if it is liquid, it would be hydraulic pressure. It also applies to tensile strength, which is an object’s resistance to pulling forces.
Another way to measure psi is with a different unit altogether: the pascal. What’s a pascal, you might ask? It is one newton of force against one square meter from a 90-degree angle. Mathematically, psi and pascals relate to each other as such: 1 PSI = 6,894.76 Pascals. The overarching principle of psi is that the smaller the surface area of the penetrating force, the less pressure it needs to exert to break through another surface.
Applications of PSI
The measurement of Pounds Per Inch applies most readily to pneumatic pressure. A common example would be pumping air into your bike tires. The bike pump has a psi gauge showing how many psi each tire has. More broadly, many instruments and vehicles have gauges showing psi, including pneumatic devices using air pressure to do their jobs, like pavement breakers and blast cleaners. In these cases, the psi gauge works the same as a fuel gauge.
Tensile strength uses the psi scale and is an important measurement when dealing with construction materials like concrete, steel beams, and flooring. For example, bamboo has a greater tensile strength than steel, making it highly resistant to pulling forces.
Another application is elastic modulus: how elastic something is. Low modulus is highly elastic, like a rubber band, and high modulus is stiff, like concrete. The units for elastic modulus are GPa and psi.
Water Jet Blasting and PSI
Of course, psi also applies to hydraulic pressures too, the most well-known of which might be pressure washing. Jet Blast Inc. uses hundreds and thousands of psi to clean industrial, municipal, and commercial tools and systems. Water blasting also can cut through concrete to expose rebar, slice through dirt to expose utilities, and completely remove old paint markings.
Contact Jet Blast Inc. Today!
Jet Blast® Industrial Services strives every day in an effort to provide our customers with the best service and equipment possible. Providing a safe and stable workplace has allowed us to keep a team of quality people with most having a tenure of 15 – 25 years with Jet Blast®. With all that experience under one roof, we have been able to provide reliable 24-hour service since 1979. I believe this helps to set us apart from the competition.
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