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Cork vs. Fused Silica

Cork and fused silica belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. Cork is a polymeric material, while fused silica is ceramic. Therefore, their performance will be even more dissimilar than would be suggested by the difference in properties. There are 15 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (12, 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 fused silica.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 1.0
1100
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 0.020
73
Shear Modulus, GPa 0.010
31
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 0.85
50

Thermal Properties

Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 2000
720
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 0.040
1.4
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 200
0.5

Electrical Properties

Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential), kV/mm 1.5
30

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 0.15
2.2

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 0.074
18
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 60
63
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 1.6
6.3
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 13
14
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 0.13
0.85
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 16
97