CA vs. Optical Silicon
CA and optical silicon belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. CA is a polymeric material, while optical silicon is ceramic. Therefore, their performance will be even more dissimilar than would be suggested by the difference in properties. There are 11 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 CA and the bottom bar is optical silicon.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 40 to 55 | |
| 300 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 30 to 37 | |
| 110 |
Thermal Properties
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 1500 | |
| 700 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 0.25 | |
| 150 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 14 | |
| 3.0 |
Electrical Properties
| Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz | 3.6 | |
| 12 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 1.3 | |
| 2.3 |
| Refractive Index | 1.5 | |
| 3.5 |
Common Calculations
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 6.4 to 7.9 | |
| 13 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 17 to 19 | |
| 22 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 0.13 | |
| 93 |