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Boron Carbide vs. Gallium Arsenide

Boron carbide belongs to the non-oxide engineering ceramics classification, while gallium arsenide belongs to the non-glass optical ceramics. There are 10 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (13, in this case) are not shown. Please note that the two materials have significantly dissimilar densities. This means that additional care is required when interpreting the data, because some material properties are based on units of mass, while others are based on units of area or volume.

For each property being compared, the top bar is boron carbide and the bottom bar is gallium arsenide.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Material Properties

Density, g/cm3 2.1 to 2.7
5.3
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 240 to 460
85
Knoop Hardness 2600 to 3200
750
Poisson's Ratio 0.17 to 0.19
0.31
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 950
360
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 63 to 100
8.9
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 91 to 100
28
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 31 to 90
47
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 16 to 38
25
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 4.5 to 5.6
5.6