End Grain Balsa Core

End-grain balsa is a natural and renewable core material that features excellent mechanical properties that will rival man-made core materials. This core takes advantage of the anisotropic properties of wood by orienting the grain of the balsa vertically through the sheet to achieve the optimum compressive performance.

The sheets are made up of individual 50mm x 50mm (2" x 2") blocks which are supported on one side by a scrim cloth, this allows excellent resin transmission in resin infusion and RTM processes and makes the sheets very easy to form around single curvatures.

Typical Uses

As a high performance, sustainable material end-grain balsa is suitable for a wide range of application including:

• Recreation equipment such as skis, snowboards, kiteboards and wakeboards
• Marine hulls, decks, hatches and floors
• Motorsport body panels, floors and splitters
• Architectural panels, cladding, enclosures
• Wind energy turbine blades, enclosures

Advantages of End Grain Balsa

How to Buy

Our end grain balsa is sold in sheets of 1220mm x 610mm (4' x 2') and available in a choice of in 6.4mm (1/4") and 9.5mm (3/8") thickness; choose your desired thickness at the top of the page.

The price shown is the price per sheet (at the thickness selected). Volume discounts are available and are applied automatically.

Shipping for small quantities

Orders for just one or two sheets may be supplied rolled to protect the sheets during transport and reduce delivery costs. This is made easy by the slit/scrim format of the sheet and does not affect the sheets. However, if this is a problem then please contact us to discuss alternative shipping options before ordering.

Further Information

Processing

End-grain balsa is compatible with all common resin systems including epoxy, vinylester and polyester, it is easily cut and machined using conventional equipment, thinner sheets are easily cut and profiled by hand using a knife. Single curvatures are easily achieved due to the make-up of blocks affixed to a flexible scrim cloth and slight compound shapes are usually achieved with conventional vacuum bagging methods.

Hand Laminating: Balsa cores are commonly used in hand-laminated and vacuum bagged applications, particularly in the construction of lightweight sandwich skins in marine and sports equipment.

Resin Infusion: Our end-grain balsa core is particularly well suited to resin infusion applications where the cut block construction allows for the easy and thorough passage of resin through the core to the outer skin.

Prepreg: Although it is fairly uncommon to process balsa cores with prepreg materials is it certainly possible. in order to do this the balsa should be pre-conditioned by thoroughly drying in an oven and then sealing with epoxy to reduce excessive scavenging from the prepreg. If properly prepared balsa can be processed at temperatures up to 160°C.

Thickness

End-grain balsa is available in 6.4mm, and 9.5mm thicknesses. The thinner 6.4mm sheets are ideal for moulded panel construction such as vehicle panels, lightweight dinghy hulls and architectural mouldings. The thicker 9.5mm sheets are commonly used for structural panels and parts such as long-boards, skis, marine bulkheads and hatch covers.

Sheet Size

End-grain Balsa is available to buy online in 1220mm x 610mm (4' x 2') sheets. There is no problem butt-jointing multiple sheets of core material in a sandwich structure where larger panels are being produced.

Density

End-grain Balsa is a natural product and will vary slightly but has a nominal density of ~150kg/m³, which compared to many other core materials is fairly high, however it also has mechanical properties which are much higher than most other cores making it well suited to applications where absolute strength and durability may be more critical than weight.

It should also be noted that the core will absorb some resin, the amount will vary depending upon the processing method and whether or not the balsa has been pre-sealed.

Mechanical Properties

* Technical data values presented above are typical average values for nominal density, Balsa is a natural product and will therefore vary in density and mechanical properties. This information is believed to be correct, but no warranty is made, either expressed or implied, regarding its accuracy or results.