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Zamak 3 vs. Aluminum Nitride

Zamak 3 and aluminum nitride belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. Zamak 3 is a metal, while aluminum nitride is a ceramic material. 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 (30, 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 Zamak 3 and the bottom bar is aluminum nitride.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 410
2100
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 86
330
Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 12
2.9
Knoop Hardness 110
1160
Poisson's Ratio 0.25
0.21 to 0.31

Thermal Properties

Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 95
1380
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 410
780
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 110
80 to 190
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 27
4.2 to 5.4

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 6.4
2.9 to 3.3

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 7.5
55 to 63
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 23
69 to 80
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 43
31 to 74