Carbon-carbon vs. SAE-AISI 5150 Steel
Carbon-carbon and SAE-AISI 5150 steel belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. Carbon-carbon is a ceramic material, while SAE-AISI 5150 steel is a metal. Therefore, their performance will be even more dissimilar than would be suggested by the difference in properties. There are 17 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (17, in this case) are not shown. Please note that the two materials have significantly dissimilar densities. This means that additional care is required when interpreting the data, because some material properties are based on units of mass, while others are based on units of area or volume.
For each property being compared, the top bar is carbon-carbon and the bottom bar is SAE-AISI 5150 steel.
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 95 | |
| 190 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.32 | |
| 0.29 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 36 | |
| 73 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 19 | |
| 580 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 2400 | |
| 420 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 760 | |
| 470 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 40 | |
| 49 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 4.0 | |
| 13 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 0.090 | |
| 7.2 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 0.48 | |
| 8.3 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 1.7 | |
| 7.8 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 31 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 89 | |
| 24 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 3.0 | |
| 20 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 9.1 | |
| 20 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 31 | |
| 13 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 3.5 | |
| 17 |