MakeItFrom.com
Menu (ESC)

MDF vs. Infrared Transmitting Glass

MDF and infrared transmitting glass belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. MDF is a polymeric material, while infrared transmitting glass is ceramic. Therefore, their performance will be even more dissimilar than would be suggested by the difference in properties. There are 9 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (10, 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 infrared transmitting glass.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Material Properties

Density, g/cm3 0.75
4.4 to 4.8
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 4.0
18 to 63
Poisson's Ratio 0.25
0.28 to 0.3
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 1700
360 to 430
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 3.0
2.3 to 7.3
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 71
20 to 28
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 0.3
0.0060 to 0.23
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 0.24
0.0029 to 0.14
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 12
9.0 to 17