MakeItFrom.com
Menu (ESC)

Silicon Nitride vs. Tungsten Carbide

Both silicon nitride and tungsten carbide are non-oxide engineering ceramics. There are 14 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (8, 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 tungsten carbide.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 600 to 2950
4780
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 140 to 310
630
Flexural Strength, MPa 130 to 810
1830
Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 3.1 to 6.2
12
Poisson's Ratio 0.24 to 0.27
0.24

Thermal Properties

Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 1000 to 1330
1000
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 720 to 800
280
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 12 to 31
85
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 2.5 to 3.2
5.4

Electrical Properties

Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m 11 to 12
0.75

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 2.2 to 3.4
15

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 34 to 53
24
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 65 to 78
20
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 7.5 to 13
21