kilopascal (kpa)

A kilopascal (kPa) is a commonly used unit of pressure that is equal to one thousand pascals. A pascal is the unit of pressure generated when a force of one newton acts across an area of one square meter. In metalworking and materials science, kPa is commonly used to measure the stress, load, and pressures that act on metals during tests and processing.

Key Features:

  • Measure of Pressure: A unit of the intensity of force acting over a unit area that is important for calculating stress.
  • Conversion Value: One kilopascal equals 1,000 pascals or around 0.145 pounds per square inch (psi).
  • Relevance in Industry: Used to express the strength, durability, and resistance of metals when loading is acted upon them.

Kilopascal is an important metric in engineering and industrial use. In many tensile tests, the stress applied to a metal specimen is recorded in kPa or higher metric units like megapascal (MPa) and then used to determine yield strength and ultimate strength. During processing methods like rolling, forging, or extrusion, kPa values are logged to verify operator safety, and desired properties are reached. The same germane unit is used in fluid mechanics when measuring pressures in full engineering practices. Therefore, kPa is considered a versatile and reliable unit of pressure used in almost every standardized or universal context associated with engineering. It is clear, accurate, and easily converted to useful information for laboratory experiments or for industry expansion.