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