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Balsa vs. HDPE

Balsa belongs to the wood-based materials classification, while HDPE belongs to the thermoplastics. There are 6 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (14, 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 balsa and the bottom bar is HDPE.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Material Properties

Density, g/cm3 0.13
1.0 to 1.3
Elongation at Break, % 1.2
2.5 to 100
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 1700
1330 to 2400
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 30
6.9 to 17
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 99
19 to 32
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 14
24 to 80