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Borosilicate Glass vs. Balsa

Borosilicate glass and balsa belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. Borosilicate glass is a ceramic material, while balsa is polymeric. Therefore, their performance will be even more dissimilar than would be suggested by the difference in properties. There are 14 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (16, in this case) are not shown. Please note that the two materials have significantly dissimilar densities. This means that additional care is required when interpreting the data, because some material properties are based on units of mass, while others are based on units of area or volume.

For each property being compared, the top bar is borosilicate glass and the bottom bar is balsa.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 2000
7.0
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 67 to 80
3.0
Poisson's Ratio 0.21
0.38
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 280
14

Thermal Properties

Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 830
1700
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 1.2
0.1
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 3.3 to 5.1
6.5

Electrical Properties

Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential), kV/mm 5.0 to 34
4.9

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 2.2 to 2.6
0.13

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 15 to 17
13
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 30 to 35
30
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 36 to 43
99
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 0.54 to 0.63
0.45
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 50 to 91
51