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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.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

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