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Melamine Formaldehyde (MF)

Melamine is a thermoset plastic. It has a fairly high dielectric strength among the thermoset plastics in the database. The graph bars on the material properties cards below compare melamine to other thermoset plastics (top) and the entire database (bottom). A full bar means this is the highest value in the relevant set. A half-full bar means it's 50% of the highest, and so on.

Mechanical Properties

Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus

7.0 GPa 1.0 x 106 psi

Elongation at Break

1.0 %

Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS)

30 MPa 4.4 x 103 psi

Thermal Properties

Maximum Temperature: Autoignition

350 °C 660 °F

Maximum Temperature: Decomposition

350 °C 660 °F

Specific Heat Capacity

1200 J/kg-K 0.29 BTU/lb-°F

Thermal Conductivity

0.5 W/m-K 0.29 BTU/h-ft-°F

Thermal Expansion

60 µm/m-K

Other Material Properties

Density

1.5 g/cm3 94 lb/ft3

Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential)

30 kV/mm 1.2 V/mil

Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude

9.0 10x Ω-m

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial

2.6 points

Stiffness to Weight: Bending

43 points

Strength to Weight: Axial

5.6 points

Strength to Weight: Bending

14 points

Thermal Diffusivity

0.28 mm2/s

Thermal Shock Resistance

5.1 points

Followup Questions

Further Reading

Thermosets: Structure, Properties and Applications, Qipeng Guo (editor), 2012

Modern Plastics Handbook, Charles A. Harper (editor), 1999

Plastics Materials, 7th ed., J. A. Brydson, 1999

CRC Materials Science and Engineering Handbook, 4th ed., James F. Shackelford et al. (editors), 2015