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Balsa vs. ABS

Balsa belongs to the wood-based materials classification, while ABS belongs to the thermoplastics. There are 10 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 ABS.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Material Properties

Density, g/cm3 0.13
1.0 to 1.4
Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential), kV/mm 4.9
15 to 16
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 3.0
2.0 to 2.6
Elongation at Break, % 1.2
3.5 to 50
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 13
0.79 to 1.4
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 30
10 to 22
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 99
24 to 37
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 14
37 to 110
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 6.5
81 to 95
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 51
11 to 50