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Balsa vs. PC

Balsa belongs to the wood-based materials classification, while PC belongs to the thermoplastics. 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 PC.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Material Properties

Density, g/cm3 0.13
1.2 to 1.4
Elongation at Break, % 1.2
3.5 to 110
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 1700
1000 to 1200
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 30
15 to 30
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 99
30 to 45
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 14
66 to 160
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 6.5
10 to 69