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Cork vs. Boron Carbide

Cork and boron carbide belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. Cork is a polymeric material, while boron carbide is ceramic. Therefore, their performance will be even more dissimilar than would be suggested by the difference in properties. There are 13 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (10, 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 cork and the bottom bar is boron carbide.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 1.0
1710 to 2200
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 0.020
240 to 460
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 0.85
350

Thermal Properties

Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 2000
950
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 0.040
31 to 90
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 200
4.5 to 5.6

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 0.15
2.1 to 2.7

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 0.074
63 to 100
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 60
91 to 100
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 1.6
37 to 47
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 13
42 to 53
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 0.13
16 to 38
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 16
9.7 to 20