Silicon Carbide vs. Boron Carbide
Both silicon carbide and boron carbide are non-oxide engineering ceramics. There are 19 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (2, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is silicon carbide and the bottom bar is boron carbide.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 2780 to 3900 | |
| 1710 to 2200 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 370 to 490 | |
| 240 to 460 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 410 to 600 | |
| 170 to 410 |
| Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 | 3.4 to 4.6 | |
| 2.5 to 3.5 |
| Knoop Hardness | 2500 to 2900 | |
| 2600 to 3200 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.14 to 0.21 | |
| 0.17 to 0.19 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 210 to 370 | |
| 350 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 500 to 1590 | |
| 1000 to 2500 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 670 to 1180 | |
| 950 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 120 to 170 | |
| 31 to 90 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 4.0 to 4.5 | |
| 4.5 to 5.6 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m | 0.94 to 3.3 | |
| 0 to 11 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 3.0 to 3.2 | |
| 2.1 to 2.7 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 69 to 84 | |
| 63 to 100 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 79 to 82 | |
| 91 to 100 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 18 to 34 | |
| 37 to 47 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 24 to 38 | |
| 42 to 53 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 38 to 79 | |
| 16 to 38 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 6.9 to 18 | |
| 9.7 to 20 |