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Fused Silica vs. Tungsten Carbide

Fused silica belongs to the glass and glass-ceramics classification, while tungsten carbide belongs to the non-oxide engineering ceramics. There are 18 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (9, 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 fused silica and the bottom bar is tungsten carbide.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 1100
4780
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 73
630
Flexural Strength, MPa 67
1830
Knoop Hardness 570
1670
Poisson's Ratio 0.17
0.24
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 50
350

Thermal Properties

Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 1080
1000
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 720
280
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 1.4
85
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 0.5
5.4

Electrical Properties

Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m 14
0.75

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 2.2
15

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 18
24
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 63
20
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 6.3
6.6
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 14
7.5
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 0.85
21
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 97
7.2