Steatite vs. Fused Silica
Steatite belongs to the oxide-based engineering ceramics classification, while fused silica belongs to the glass and glass-ceramics. There are 20 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (9, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is steatite and the bottom bar is fused silica.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 540 to 620 | |
| 1100 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 68 to 120 | |
| 73 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 32 to 150 | |
| 67 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.23 | |
| 0.17 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 60 to 220 | |
| 50 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 750 to 1230 | |
| 1080 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 850 to 860 | |
| 720 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 1.8 to 2.5 | |
| 1.4 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 7.0 to 9.0 | |
| 0.5 |
Electrical Properties
| Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz | 5.7 to 6.5 | |
| 3.8 |
| Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential), kV/mm | 7.9 to 16 | |
| 30 |
| Electrical Dissipation At 1 MHz | 0.0010 to 0.0060 | |
| 0.00011 |
| Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m | 8.0 to 11 | |
| 14 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 1.9 to 2.8 | |
| 2.2 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 to 32 | |
| 18 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 52 to 83 | |
| 63 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 6.4 to 32 | |
| 6.3 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 13 to 42 | |
| 14 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 0.79 to 1.1 | |
| 0.85 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 5.1 to 33 | |
| 97 |