Silica Aerogel vs. Boron Carbide
Silica aerogel belongs to the oxide-based engineering ceramics classification, while boron carbide belongs to the non-oxide engineering ceramics. There are 11 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (10, 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 silica aerogel and the bottom bar is boron carbide.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 0.0050 | |
| 240 to 460 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.2 | |
| 0.17 to 0.19 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 0.016 | |
| 350 |
Thermal Properties
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 0.016 | |
| 31 to 90 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 2.0 | |
| 4.5 to 5.6 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 0.1 | |
| 2.1 to 2.7 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 0.028 | |
| 63 to 100 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 57 | |
| 91 to 100 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 0.044 | |
| 37 to 47 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 1.4 | |
| 42 to 53 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 110 | |
| 9.7 to 20 |