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Bamboo Plywood vs. Zamak 2

Bamboo plywood and Zamak 2 belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. Bamboo plywood is a polymeric material, while Zamak 2 is a metal. 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 (20, 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 bamboo plywood and the bottom bar is Zamak 2.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 80
640
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 18
87
Elongation at Break, % 3.0
6.0
Poisson's Ratio 0.39
0.26
Shear Modulus, GPa 1.3
33
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 40
360

Thermal Properties

Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 1680
410
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 0.17
110
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 4.0
28

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 0.7
6.5

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 14
7.5
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 120
23
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 16
15
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 37
17
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 0.14
41
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 40
11