AISI 316 Stainless Steel vs. Synthetic Sapphire
AISI 316 stainless steel and synthetic sapphire belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. AISI 316 stainless steel is a metal, while synthetic sapphire is a ceramic material. Therefore, their performance will be even more dissimilar than would be suggested by the difference in properties. There are 16 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (29, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is AISI 316 stainless steel and the bottom bar is synthetic sapphire.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 200 | |
| 450 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.28 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 78 | |
| 150 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 520 to 1180 | |
| 2470 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 590 | |
| 2000 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1380 | |
| 2050 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 760 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 15 | |
| 30 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 16 | |
| 5.3 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.9 | |
| 4.0 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 63 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 25 | |
| 64 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 18 to 41 | |
| 170 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 18 to 31 | |
| 100 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 4.1 | |
| 9.9 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 11 to 26 | |
| 74 |