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Tungsten Carbide vs. Optical Silicon

Tungsten carbide belongs to the non-oxide engineering ceramics classification, while optical silicon belongs to the non-glass optical ceramics. There are 18 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (6, 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 optical silicon.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 4780
120
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 630
150
Flexural Strength, MPa 1830
300
Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 12
3.5
Knoop Hardness 1670
1130
Poisson's Ratio 0.24
0.28
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 350
110

Thermal Properties

Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 1000
1350
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 280
700
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 85
150
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 5.4
3.0

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 15
2.3

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 24
35
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 20
75
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 6.6
13
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 7.5
22
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 21
93
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 7.2
18