Fused Silica vs. Silicon Nitride
Fused silica belongs to the glass and glass-ceramics classification, while silicon nitride belongs to the non-oxide engineering ceramics. There are 15 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (13, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is fused silica and the bottom bar is silicon nitride.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 1100 | |
| 600 to 2950 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 140 to 310 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 67 | |
| 130 to 810 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.17 | |
| 0.24 to 0.27 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 1080 | |
| 1000 to 1330 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 720 | |
| 720 to 800 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 1.4 | |
| 12 to 31 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 0.5 | |
| 2.5 to 3.2 |
Electrical Properties
| Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz | 3.8 | |
| 8.0 to 10 |
| Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential), kV/mm | 30 | |
| 18 |
| Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m | 14 | |
| 11 to 12 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.2 | |
| 2.2 to 3.4 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 18 | |
| 34 to 53 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 63 | |
| 65 to 78 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 0.85 | |
| 7.5 to 13 |