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Spruce-pine-fir vs. Balsa

Both spruce-pine-fir and balsa are wood-based materials. There are 16 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (2, 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 spruce-pine-fir and the bottom bar is balsa.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 50
7.0
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 16
3.0
Elongation at Break, % 1.5
1.2
Poisson's Ratio 0.38
0.38
Shear Modulus, GPa 1.2
0.23
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 85
14

Thermal Properties

Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 1380
1700
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 0.12
0.1
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 6.5
6.5

Electrical Properties

Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential), kV/mm 0.5
4.9

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 0.5
0.13

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 18
13
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 47
30
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 86
99
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 0.17
0.45
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 58
51