PEEK vs. Boron Carbide
PEEK and boron carbide belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. PEEK 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 16 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (17, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is PEEK and the bottom bar is boron carbide.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 120 to 300 | |
| 1710 to 2200 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 4.0 to 24 | |
| 240 to 460 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 150 to 330 | |
| 170 to 410 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 97 to 200 | |
| 350 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 330 | |
| 1000 to 2500 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 1390 to 1700 | |
| 950 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 0.25 to 0.93 | |
| 31 to 90 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 15 to 52 | |
| 4.5 to 5.6 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m | 3.0 to 14 | |
| 0 to 11 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 1.3 to 1.5 | |
| 2.1 to 2.7 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 1.5 to 10 | |
| 63 to 100 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 36 to 73 | |
| 91 to 100 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 20 to 41 | |
| 37 to 47 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 36 to 55 | |
| 42 to 53 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 0.1 to 0.51 | |
| 16 to 38 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 34 to 57 | |
| 9.7 to 20 |