Yeah, that's where I'm getting a bit confused... I'm trying to figure out how "stiff" wire mesh is. Wikipedia seemed to say that stiffness itself itsn't really measurable, but that its young's modulus is a roughly equivalent measurement.
I realize that the youngs modulus is technically applicable only to each individual wire within the mesh, but couldn't you get a decent approximation of its relative strength by treating the entire piece of mesh as a second "test sample"? It's not cylindrical, but wouldn't the difference in relative strength/stiffness between the two samples still be comparable? I mean, if this were done experimentally, it'd basically be the exact same test on two separate objects... all the forces involved should be directly comparable.
Sorry if my description is making this confusing. :/