MDF vs. Fused Silica
MDF and fused silica belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. MDF is a polymeric material, while fused silica is ceramic. Therefore, their performance will be even more dissimilar than would be suggested by the difference in properties. There are 16 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (11, 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 MDF and the bottom bar is fused silica.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 10 | |
| 1100 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 4.0 | |
| 73 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.25 | |
| 0.17 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 2.5 | |
| 31 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 18 | |
| 50 |
Thermal Properties
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 1700 | |
| 720 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 0.3 | |
| 1.4 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 12 | |
| 0.5 |
Electrical Properties
| Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential), kV/mm | 0.5 | |
| 30 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 0.75 | |
| 2.2 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 3.0 | |
| 18 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 71 | |
| 63 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 6.7 | |
| 6.3 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 20 | |
| 14 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 0.24 | |
| 0.85 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 27 | |
| 97 |