Soda-lime Glass vs. Optical Silicon
Soda-lime glass belongs to the glass and glass-ceramics classification, while optical silicon belongs to the non-glass optical ceramics. There are 19 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (5, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is soda-lime glass and the bottom bar is optical silicon.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 70 to 71 | |
| 150 |
| Knoop Hardness | 570 | |
| 1130 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.23 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 29 | |
| 80 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 41 to 180 | |
| 110 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 300 | |
| 1350 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 720 to 800 | |
| 700 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 1.0 to 1.1 | |
| 150 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 8.8 to 9.0 | |
| 3.0 |
Electrical Properties
| Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz | 7.3 to 7.4 | |
| 12 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.4 | |
| 2.3 |
| Light Transmission Range, µm | 0.35 to 2.5 | |
| 1.2 to 15 |
| Refractive Index | 1.5 | |
| 3.5 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 16 | |
| 35 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 56 | |
| 75 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 4.6 to 20 | |
| 13 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 11 to 28 | |
| 22 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 0.51 to 0.6 | |
| 93 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 4.7 to 20 | |
| 18 |