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Tungsten Carbide vs. Fused Silica

Tungsten carbide belongs to the non-oxide engineering ceramics classification, while fused silica belongs to the glass and glass-ceramics. There are 18 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (9, 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 tungsten carbide and the bottom bar is fused silica.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 4780
1100
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 630
73
Flexural Strength, MPa 1830
67
Knoop Hardness 1670
570
Poisson's Ratio 0.24
0.17
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 350
50

Thermal Properties

Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 1000
1080
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 280
720
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 85
1.4
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 5.4
0.5

Electrical Properties

Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m 0.75
14

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 15
2.2

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 24
18
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 20
63
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 6.6
6.3
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 7.5
14
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 21
0.85
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 7.2
97