Alumina vs. Steatite
Both alumina and steatite are oxide-based engineering ceramics. There are 23 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (3, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is alumina and the bottom bar is steatite.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 1920 to 2750 | |
| 540 to 620 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 220 to 370 | |
| 68 to 120 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 260 to 430 | |
| 32 to 150 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.22 to 0.24 | |
| 0.23 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 210 to 290 | |
| 60 to 220 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 650 to 1730 | |
| 750 to 1230 |
| Maximum Thermal Shock, °C | 200 to 300 | |
| 90 to 160 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 870 to 940 | |
| 850 to 860 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 14 to 30 | |
| 1.8 to 2.5 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 6.7 to 8.2 | |
| 7.0 to 9.0 |
Electrical Properties
| Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 Hz | 8.0 to 9.0 | |
| 6.0 |
| Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz | 7.8 to 11 | |
| 5.7 to 6.5 |
| Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential), kV/mm | 8.9 to 12 | |
| 7.9 to 16 |
| Electrical Dissipation At 1 Hz | 0.00031 to 0.0011 | |
| 0.0014 to 0.022 |
| Electrical Dissipation At 1 MHz | 0.00049 to 0.0013 | |
| 0.0010 to 0.0060 |
| Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m | 6.2 to 14 | |
| 8.0 to 11 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 3.4 to 4.1 | |
| 1.9 to 2.8 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 35 to 53 | |
| 14 to 32 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 57 to 62 | |
| 52 to 83 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 14 to 23 | |
| 6.4 to 32 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 19 to 28 | |
| 13 to 42 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 3.7 to 10 | |
| 0.79 to 1.1 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 4.9 to 14 | |
| 5.1 to 33 |