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Cork vs. Silicon Carbide

Cork and silicon carbide belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. Cork is a polymeric material, while silicon 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 silicon carbide.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 1.0
2780 to 3900
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 0.020
370 to 490
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 0.85
210 to 370

Thermal Properties

Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 2000
670 to 1180
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 0.040
120 to 170
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 200
4.0 to 4.5

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 0.15
3.0 to 3.2

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 0.074
69 to 84
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 60
79 to 82
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 1.6
18 to 34
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 13
24 to 38
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 0.13
38 to 79
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 16
6.9 to 18