PEEK vs. Silicon Carbide
PEEK and silicon carbide belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. PEEK 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 16 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (17, 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 PEEK and the bottom bar is silicon carbide.
Mechanical Properties
Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 120 to 300 | |
2780 to 3900 |
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 4.0 to 24 | |
370 to 490 |
Flexural Strength, MPa | 150 to 330 | |
410 to 600 |
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 97 to 200 | |
210 to 370 |
Thermal Properties
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 330 | |
500 to 1590 |
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 1390 to 1700 | |
670 to 1180 |
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 0.25 to 0.93 | |
120 to 170 |
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 15 to 52 | |
4.0 to 4.5 |
Electrical Properties
Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m | 3.0 to 14 | |
0.94 to 3.3 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
Density, g/cm3 | 1.3 to 1.5 | |
3.0 to 3.2 |
Common Calculations
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 1.5 to 10 | |
69 to 84 |
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 36 to 73 | |
79 to 82 |
Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 20 to 41 | |
18 to 34 |
Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 36 to 55 | |
24 to 38 |
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 0.1 to 0.51 | |
38 to 79 |
Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 34 to 57 | |
6.9 to 18 |