Sheet Weight & Blank Cost
Sheet or plate weight from size, thickness and density, cost from a price per kg or lb, and material cost per blank with utilisation, scrap credit and cutting.
Sheet mass and mass per area, cost per sheet and for the batch, and — with blanks — utilisation, scrap mass per sheet, scrap credit and the material cost per blank; density and price are yours.
Example: A 2500 × 1250 × 2 mm sheet at 7,850 kg/m³ weighs 49.06 kg; at 1.20 per kg and 20 blanks of 400 × 300 (76.8 % utilisation) the material cost is 2.94 per blank, less at a scrap value of 0.20 per kg.
Weight, then cost,
then cost per blank.
The three steps and the two numbers that are yours: density and price.
Weight
Mass = length × width × thickness × density. In metric the lengths are millimetres and the density kg/m³, so the product is divided by 10⁹; in imperial inches and lb/ft³, divided by 1728. Mass per area (kg/m² or lb/ft²) is thickness × density and is handy for comparing gauges.
Cost
Sheet cost = mass × price per kg or lb; the batch is that times the number of sheets. Density and price come from your certificate and quote — rolled sheet runs within a thickness tolerance and plate is often heavier than nominal, so a weighed sheet beats the arithmetic.
Per blank
Utilisation = blanks × blank area ÷ sheet area (the count comes from your nest or the nesting page). The scrap mass per sheet is the rest; if scrap has a value, its credit comes off the sheet cost. Material cost per blank = (sheet cost − scrap credit) ÷ blanks, plus any cutting cost per blank you enter. Nothing leaves the browser; the same four anonymous usage counts as the rest of the site apply.
SOURCES
- mass = L × W × T × ρ (mm and kg/m³ ÷ 10⁹; in and lb/ft³ ÷ 1728); utilisation = blanks × blank area ÷ sheet area; cost per blank = (sheet cost − scrap credit) ÷ blanks + cutting cost
Last reviewed 20 September 2026. How results are checked: How we verify.