Boron Carbide vs. Optical Silicon
Boron carbide belongs to the non-oxide engineering ceramics classification, while optical silicon belongs to the non-glass optical ceramics. There are 19 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (5, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is boron carbide and the bottom bar is optical silicon.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 1710 to 2200 | |
| 120 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 240 to 460 | |
| 150 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 170 to 410 | |
| 300 |
| Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 | 2.5 to 3.5 | |
| 3.5 |
| Knoop Hardness | 2600 to 3200 | |
| 1130 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.17 to 0.19 | |
| 0.28 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 350 | |
| 110 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 1000 to 2500 | |
| 1350 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 950 | |
| 700 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 31 to 90 | |
| 150 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 4.5 to 5.6 | |
| 3.0 |
Electrical Properties
| Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz | 6.4 | |
| 12 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.1 to 2.7 | |
| 2.3 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 63 to 100 | |
| 35 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 91 to 100 | |
| 75 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 37 to 47 | |
| 13 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 42 to 53 | |
| 22 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 16 to 38 | |
| 93 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 9.7 to 20 | |
| 18 |