Boron Carbide (B4C)
Boron carbide is a non-oxide engineering ceramic. It has a moderately high heat capacity among the non-oxide engineering ceramics in the database.
The properties of boron carbide include three common variations. This page shows summary ranges across all of them. For more specific values, follow the links immediately below. The graph bars on the material properties cards further below compare boron carbide to other non-oxide 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
1710 to 2200 MPa 250 to 320 x 103 psi
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus
240 to 460 GPa 34 to 67 x 106 psi
Flexural Strength
170 to 410 MPa 25 to 59 x 103 psi
Fracture Toughness
2.5 to 3.5 MPa-m1/2 2.3 to 3.2 x 103 psi-in1/2
Knoop Hardness
2600 to 3200
Poisson's Ratio
0.17 to 0.19
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS)
350 MPa 51 x 103 psi
Thermal Properties
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical
1000 to 2500 °C 1830 to 4530 °F
Specific Heat Capacity
950 J/kg-K 0.23 BTU/lb-°F
Thermal Conductivity
31 to 90 W/m-K 18 to 52 BTU/h-ft-°F
Thermal Expansion
4.5 to 5.6 µm/m-K
Other Material Properties
Density
2.1 to 2.7 g/cm3 130 to 170 lb/ft3
Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz
6.4
Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude
0 to 11 10x Ω-m
Common Calculations
Stiffness to Weight: Axial
63 to 100 points
Stiffness to Weight: Bending
91 to 100 points
Strength to Weight: Axial
37 to 47 points
Strength to Weight: Bending
42 to 53 points
Thermal Diffusivity
16 to 38 mm2/s
Thermal Shock Resistance
9.7 to 20 points
Followup Questions
Further Reading
Handbook of Refractory Carbides and Nitrides: Properties, Characteristics, Processing and Applications, Hugh O. Pierson, 1996
Springer Handbook of Condensed Matter and Materials Data, W. Martienssen and H. Warlimont (editors), 2005
Sintering of Advanced Materials: Fundamentals and Processes, Zhigang Zak Fang (editor), 2010