Hardwood
Hardwood is a wood-based material. It has the lowest heat capacity and a moderately high tensile strength among wood-based materials. The graph bars on the material properties cards below compare hardwood to other wood-based materials (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
Compressive (Crushing) Strength
40 MPa 5.8 x 103 psi
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus
12 GPa 1.7 x 106 psi
Elongation at Break
2.0 %
Poisson's Ratio
0.37
Shear Modulus
0.9 GPa 0.13 x 106 psi
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS)
80 MPa 12 x 103 psi
Thermal Properties
Specific Heat Capacity
1260 J/kg-K 0.3 BTU/lb-°F
Thermal Conductivity
0.16 W/m-K 0.093 BTU/h-ft-°F
Thermal Expansion
6.0 µm/m-K
Other Material Properties
Density
0.7 g/cm3 44 lb/ft3
Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential)
0.5 kV/mm 0.020 V/mil
Common Calculations
Stiffness to Weight: Axial
9.5 points
Stiffness to Weight: Bending
110 points
Strength to Weight: Axial
32 points
Strength to Weight: Bending
59 points
Thermal Diffusivity
0.18 mm2/s
Thermal Shock Resistance
79 points
Followup Questions
Further Reading
Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material, Forest Products Laboratory, USDA Forest Service, 1999