Silicon Carbide vs. Silicon Nitride
Both silicon carbide and silicon nitride are non-oxide engineering ceramics. There are 15 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (7, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is silicon carbide and the bottom bar is silicon nitride.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 2780 to 3900 | |
| 600 to 2950 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 370 to 490 | |
| 140 to 310 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 410 to 600 | |
| 130 to 810 |
| Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 | 3.4 to 4.6 | |
| 3.1 to 6.2 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.14 to 0.21 | |
| 0.24 to 0.27 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 500 to 1590 | |
| 1000 to 1330 |
| Maximum Thermal Shock, °C | 210 to 660 | |
| 290 to 750 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 670 to 1180 | |
| 720 to 800 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 120 to 170 | |
| 12 to 31 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 4.0 to 4.5 | |
| 2.5 to 3.2 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m | 0.94 to 3.3 | |
| 11 to 12 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 3.0 to 3.2 | |
| 2.2 to 3.4 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 69 to 84 | |
| 34 to 53 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 79 to 82 | |
| 65 to 78 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 38 to 79 | |
| 7.5 to 13 |