Zirconia vs. Boron Carbide
Zirconia belongs to the oxide-based engineering ceramics classification, while boron carbide belongs to the non-oxide engineering ceramics. There are 20 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (2, 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 zirconia and the bottom bar is boron carbide.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 1260 to 3080 | |
1710 to 2200 |
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 to 200 | |
240 to 460 |
Flexural Strength, MPa | 630 to 970 | |
170 to 410 |
Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 | 8.0 to 11 | |
2.5 to 3.5 |
Knoop Hardness | 1210 to 1300 | |
2600 to 3200 |
Poisson's Ratio | 0.25 to 0.29 | |
0.17 to 0.19 |
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 410 to 450 | |
350 |
Thermal Properties
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 500 to 1330 | |
1000 to 2500 |
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 400 to 510 | |
950 |
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 2.2 to 4.3 | |
31 to 90 |
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 8.8 to 9.5 | |
4.5 to 5.6 |
Electrical Properties
Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz | 28 | |
6.4 |
Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m | 4.5 to 11 | |
0 to 11 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
Density, g/cm3 | 5.7 to 6.0 | |
2.1 to 2.7 |
Common Calculations
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 19 | |
63 to 100 |
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 33 to 34 | |
91 to 100 |
Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 19 to 22 | |
37 to 47 |
Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 21 to 23 | |
42 to 53 |
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 0.73 to 1.8 | |
16 to 38 |
Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 15 to 19 | |
9.7 to 20 |