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Balsa vs. NEMA Laminate

Balsa belongs to the wood-based materials classification, while NEMA laminate belongs to the thermoset plastics. There are 7 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (16, 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 NEMA laminate.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Material Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 7.0
190 to 360
Density, g/cm3 0.13
1.3 to 1.9
Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential), kV/mm 4.9
12 to 21
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 30
8.3 to 40
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 99
17 to 50
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 14
55 to 260
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 6.5
9.0 to 20