Beryllia (Beryllium Oxide, BeO)
Beryllia is an oxide-based engineering ceramic. It has a fairly high heat capacity and the highest thermal conductivity among oxide-based engineering ceramics. The graph bars on the material properties cards below compare beryllia to other oxide-based engineering ceramics (top) and the entire database (bottom). A full bar means this is the highest value in the relevant set. A half-full bar means it's 50% of the highest, and so on.
Mechanical Properties
Compressive (Crushing) Strength
1650 MPa 240 x 103 psi
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus
350 GPa 50 x 106 psi
Flexural Strength
240 MPa 35 x 103 psi
Poisson's Ratio
0.26
Shear Modulus
180 GPa 25 x 106 psi
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS)
140 MPa 20 x 103 psi
Electrical Properties
Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz
6.6
Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential)
11 kV/mm 0.45 V/mil
Electrical Dissipation At 1 MHz
0.00060
Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude
13 10x Ω-m
Other Material Properties
Density
2.9 g/cm3 180 lb/ft3
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical
1750 °C 3180 °F
Specific Heat Capacity
1050 J/kg-K 0.25 BTU/lb-°F
Thermal Conductivity
270 W/m-K 150 BTU/h-ft-°F
Thermal Expansion
8.0 µm/m-K
Common Calculations
Stiffness to Weight: Axial
67 points
Stiffness to Weight: Bending
82 points
Strength to Weight: Axial
14 points
Strength to Weight: Bending
21 points
Thermal Diffusivity
89 mm2/s
Thermal Shock Resistance
3.6 points
Followup Questions
Further Reading
ASTM C242: Standard Terminology of Ceramic Whitewares and Related Products
Ceramics and Composites: Processing Methods, Narottam P. Bansal and Aldo R. Boccaccini (editors), 2012
Springer Handbook of Condensed Matter and Materials Data, W. Martienssen and H. Warlimont (editors), 2005
CRC Materials Science and Engineering Handbook, 4th ed., James F. Shackelford et al. (editors), 2015