Alumina vs. Carbon-carbon
Alumina belongs to the oxide-based engineering ceramics classification, while carbon-carbon belongs to the non-oxide engineering ceramics. There are 16 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (14, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is alumina and the bottom bar is carbon-carbon.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 1920 to 2750 | |
| 240 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 220 to 370 | |
| 95 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.22 to 0.24 | |
| 0.32 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 210 to 290 | |
| 19 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 650 to 1730 | |
| 2400 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 870 to 940 | |
| 760 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 14 to 30 | |
| 40 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 6.7 to 8.2 | |
| 4.0 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m | 6.2 to 14 | |
| -5.0 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 3.4 to 4.1 | |
| 1.7 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 35 to 53 | |
| 31 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 57 to 62 | |
| 89 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 14 to 23 | |
| 3.0 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 19 to 28 | |
| 9.1 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 3.7 to 10 | |
| 31 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 4.9 to 14 | |
| 3.5 |