Alumina vs. Aluminum Nitride
Alumina belongs to the oxide-based engineering ceramics classification, while aluminum nitride belongs to the non-oxide engineering ceramics. There are 20 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (6, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is alumina and the bottom bar is aluminum nitride.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 1920 to 2750 | |
| 2100 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 220 to 370 | |
| 330 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 260 to 430 | |
| 190 to 400 |
| Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 | 3.7 to 7.2 | |
| 2.9 |
| Knoop Hardness | 960 to 1660 | |
| 1160 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.22 to 0.24 | |
| 0.21 to 0.31 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 650 to 1730 | |
| 1380 |
| Maximum Thermal Shock, °C | 200 to 300 | |
| 220 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 870 to 940 | |
| 780 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 14 to 30 | |
| 80 to 190 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 6.7 to 8.2 | |
| 4.2 to 5.4 |
Electrical Properties
| Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz | 7.8 to 11 | |
| 6.9 to 28 |
| Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential), kV/mm | 8.9 to 12 | |
| 15 to 56 |
| Electrical Dissipation At 1 Hz | 0.00031 to 0.0011 | |
| 0.0019 |
| Electrical Dissipation At 1 MHz | 0.00049 to 0.0013 | |
| 0.00020 to 0.0010 |
| Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m | 6.2 to 14 | |
| 10 to 12 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 3.4 to 4.1 | |
| 2.9 to 3.3 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 35 to 53 | |
| 55 to 63 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 57 to 62 | |
| 69 to 80 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 3.7 to 10 | |
| 31 to 74 |