Titanium Diboride (TiB2)
Titanium diboride is a non-oxide engineering ceramic. It has a very high density among non-oxide engineering ceramics. In addition, it has a moderately high fracture toughness and a moderately high heat capacity. The graph bars on the material properties cards below compare titanium diboride 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
3540 MPa 510 x 103 psi
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus
290 GPa 41 x 106 psi
Flexural Strength
380 MPa 55 x 103 psi
Fracture Toughness
6.5 MPa-m1/2 5.9 x 103 psi-in1/2
Knoop Hardness
2800
Poisson's Ratio
0.11
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS)
280 MPa 40 x 103 psi
Thermal Properties
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical
1270 °C 2320 °F
Maximum Thermal Shock
110 °C 230 °F
Specific Heat Capacity
870 J/kg-K 0.21 BTU/lb-°F
Thermal Conductivity
58 W/m-K 33 BTU/h-ft-°F
Thermal Expansion
8.0 µm/m-K
Other Material Properties
Density
4.5 g/cm3 280 lb/ft3
Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude
-6.5 10x Ω-m
Common Calculations
Stiffness to Weight: Axial
35 points
Stiffness to Weight: Bending
49 points
Strength to Weight: Axial
17 points
Strength to Weight: Bending
21 points
Thermal Diffusivity
15 mm2/s
Thermal Shock Resistance
8.7 points
Followup Questions
Further Reading
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