Silicon Carbide (SiC)
Silicon carbide is a non-oxide engineering ceramic. It can have a moderately high thermal conductivity among the non-oxide engineering ceramics in the database.
The properties of silicon carbide include five 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 silicon 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
2780 to 3900 MPa 400 to 570 x 103 psi
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus
370 to 490 GPa 54 to 71 x 106 psi
Flexural Strength
410 to 600 MPa 60 to 87 x 103 psi
Fracture Toughness
3.4 to 4.6 MPa-m1/2 3.1 to 4.2 x 103 psi-in1/2
Knoop Hardness
2500 to 2900
Poisson's Ratio
0.14 to 0.21
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS)
210 to 370 MPa 30 to 53 x 103 psi
Thermal Properties
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical
500 to 1590 °C 930 to 2900 °F
Maximum Thermal Shock
210 to 660 °C 400 to 1220 °F
Specific Heat Capacity
670 to 1180 J/kg-K 0.16 to 0.28 BTU/lb-°F
Thermal Conductivity
120 to 170 W/m-K 71 to 97 BTU/h-ft-°F
Thermal Expansion
4.0 to 4.5 µm/m-K
Other Material Properties
Density
3.0 to 3.2 g/cm3 190 to 200 lb/ft3
Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude
0.94 to 3.3 10x Ω-m
Common Calculations
Stiffness to Weight: Axial
69 to 84 points
Stiffness to Weight: Bending
79 to 82 points
Strength to Weight: Axial
18 to 34 points
Strength to Weight: Bending
24 to 38 points
Thermal Diffusivity
38 to 79 mm2/s
Thermal Shock Resistance
6.9 to 18 points
Followup Questions
Further Reading
Properties of Silicon Carbide, Gary L. Harris (editor), 1995
Silicon Carbine Ceramics: Fundamental and Solid Reaction, Shigeyuki Somiya and Yoshizo Inomata (editors), 1991
Handbook of Refractory Carbides and Nitrides: Properties, Characteristics, Processing and Applications, Hugh O. Pierson, 1996
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
Sintering of Advanced Materials: Fundamentals and Processes, Zhigang Zak Fang (editor), 2010