Tungsten Carbide (WC)
Tungsten carbide is a non-oxide engineering ceramic. It has the highest density among non-oxide engineering ceramics. In addition, it has the highest fracture toughness and the lowest heat capacity. The graph bars on the material properties cards below compare tungsten 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
4780 MPa 690 x 103 psi
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus
630 GPa 92 x 106 psi
Flexural Strength
1830 MPa 270 x 103 psi
Fracture Toughness
12 MPa-m1/2 11 x 103 psi-in1/2
Knoop Hardness
1670
Poisson's Ratio
0.24
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS)
350 MPa 50 x 103 psi
Thermal Properties
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical
1000 °C 1830 °F
Specific Heat Capacity
280 J/kg-K 0.066 BTU/lb-°F
Thermal Conductivity
85 W/m-K 49 BTU/h-ft-°F
Thermal Expansion
5.4 µm/m-K
Other Material Properties
Density
15 g/cm3 910 lb/ft3
Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude
0.75 10x Ω-m
Common Calculations
Stiffness to Weight: Axial
24 points
Stiffness to Weight: Bending
20 points
Strength to Weight: Axial
6.6 points
Strength to Weight: Bending
7.5 points
Thermal Diffusivity
21 mm2/s
Thermal Shock Resistance
7.2 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
CRC Materials Science and Engineering Handbook, 4th ed., James F. Shackelford et al. (editors), 2015