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Silicon Nitride vs. Silica Aerogel

Silicon nitride belongs to the non-oxide engineering ceramics classification, while silica aerogel belongs to the oxide-based 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 silicon nitride and the bottom bar is silica aerogel.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Material Properties

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