Optical Silicon vs. Zinc Sulfide
Both optical silicon and zinc sulfide are non-glass optical ceramics. There are 12 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (11, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is optical silicon and the bottom bar is zinc sulfide.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 150 | |
| 75 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.28 | |
| 0.28 |
Thermal Properties
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1560 | |
| 1830 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 700 | |
| 520 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 150 | |
| 27 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 3.0 | |
| 6.5 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.3 | |
| 4.1 |
| Light Transmission Range, µm | 1.2 to 15 | |
| 0.37 to 14 |
| Refractive Index | 3.5 | |
| 2.3 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 35 | |
| 10 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 75 | |
| 34 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 93 | |
| 13 |