Alumina vs. Zirconia
Both alumina and zirconia are oxide-based engineering ceramics. There are 22 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (4, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is alumina and the bottom bar is zirconia.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 1920 to 2750 | |
| 1260 to 3080 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 220 to 370 | |
| 190 to 200 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 260 to 430 | |
| 630 to 970 |
| Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 | 3.7 to 7.2 | |
| 8.0 to 11 |
| Knoop Hardness | 960 to 1660 | |
| 1210 to 1300 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.22 to 0.24 | |
| 0.25 to 0.29 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 210 to 290 | |
| 410 to 450 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 650 to 1730 | |
| 500 to 1330 |
| Maximum Thermal Shock, °C | 200 to 300 | |
| 300 to 350 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 870 to 940 | |
| 400 to 510 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 14 to 30 | |
| 2.2 to 4.3 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 6.7 to 8.2 | |
| 8.8 to 9.5 |
Electrical Properties
| Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz | 7.8 to 11 | |
| 28 |
| Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential), kV/mm | 8.9 to 12 | |
| 7.7 to 9.0 |
| Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m | 6.2 to 14 | |
| 4.5 to 11 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 3.4 to 4.1 | |
| 5.7 to 6.0 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 35 to 53 | |
| 19 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 57 to 62 | |
| 33 to 34 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 14 to 23 | |
| 19 to 22 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 19 to 28 | |
| 21 to 23 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 3.7 to 10 | |
| 0.73 to 1.8 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 4.9 to 14 | |
| 15 to 19 |