Optical Silicon vs. Ferrite
Optical silicon belongs to the non-glass optical ceramics classification, while ferrite belongs to the oxide-based engineering ceramics. There are 17 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (7, 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 optical silicon and the bottom bar is ferrite.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 120 | |
| 430 to 2000 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 150 | |
| 120 to 140 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 300 | |
| 120 to 150 |
| Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 | 3.5 | |
| 1.4 to 1.5 |
| Knoop Hardness | 1130 | |
| 630 to 700 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 110 | |
| 48 to 71 |
Thermal Properties
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 700 | |
| 710 to 1050 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 150 | |
| 3.9 to 6.3 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 3.0 | |
| 8.0 to 9.3 |
Electrical Properties
| Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz | 12 | |
| 12 to 270 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.3 | |
| 4.7 to 4.8 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 35 | |
| 15 to 16 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 75 | |
| 35 to 36 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 2.8 to 4.1 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 22 | |
| 6.2 to 8.0 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 93 | |
| 0.78 to 1.9 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 18 | |
| 3.0 to 4.6 |