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Balsa vs. PMMA

Balsa belongs to the wood-based materials classification, while PMMA belongs to the thermoplastics. There are 15 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 PMMA.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 7.0
120
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 3.0
3.2
Elongation at Break, % 1.2
4.0
Shear Modulus, GPa 0.23
1.7
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 14
71

Thermal Properties

Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 1700
1260
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 0.1
0.19
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 6.5
76

Electrical Properties

Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential), kV/mm 4.9
30

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 0.13
1.2

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 13
1.5
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 30
17
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 99
32
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 0.45
0.13
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 51
21