Alumina vs. ZA-8
Alumina and ZA-8 belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. Alumina is a ceramic material, while ZA-8 is a metal. Therefore, their performance will be even more dissimilar than would be suggested by the difference in properties. There are 18 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (26, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is alumina and the bottom bar is ZA-8.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 1920 to 2750 | |
| 210 to 250 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 220 to 370 | |
| 85 to 86 |
| Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 | 3.7 to 7.2 | |
| 13 |
| Knoop Hardness | 960 to 1660 | |
| 110 to 130 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.22 to 0.24 | |
| 0.26 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 210 to 290 | |
| 210 to 370 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 650 to 1730 | |
| 100 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 2040 | |
| 380 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 870 to 940 | |
| 440 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 14 to 30 | |
| 120 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 6.7 to 8.2 | |
| 23 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 3.4 to 4.1 | |
| 6.3 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 35 to 53 | |
| 7.5 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 57 to 62 | |
| 23 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 14 to 23 | |
| 9.3 to 17 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 19 to 28 | |
| 12 to 18 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 3.7 to 10 | |
| 42 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 4.9 to 14 | |
| 7.6 to 13 |