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Silica Aerogel vs. Silicon Nitride

Silica aerogel belongs to the oxide-based engineering ceramics classification, while silicon nitride belongs to the non-oxide engineering ceramics. There are 7 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (15, 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 silicon nitride.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Material Properties

Density, g/cm3 0.1
2.2 to 3.4
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 0.0050
140 to 310
Poisson's Ratio 0.2
0.24 to 0.27
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 0.028
34 to 53
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 57
65 to 78
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 0.016
12 to 31
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 2.0
2.5 to 3.2