Aluminum Nitride vs. Optical Silicon
Aluminum nitride belongs to the non-oxide engineering ceramics classification, while optical silicon belongs to the non-glass optical ceramics. There are 15 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (13, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is aluminum nitride and the bottom bar is optical silicon.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 2100 | |
| 120 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 330 | |
| 150 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 190 to 400 | |
| 300 |
| Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 | 2.9 | |
| 3.5 |
| Knoop Hardness | 1160 | |
| 1130 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.21 to 0.31 | |
| 0.28 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 1380 | |
| 1350 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 780 | |
| 700 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 80 to 190 | |
| 150 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 4.2 to 5.4 | |
| 3.0 |
Electrical Properties
| Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz | 6.9 to 28 | |
| 12 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.9 to 3.3 | |
| 2.3 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 55 to 63 | |
| 35 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 69 to 80 | |
| 75 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 31 to 74 | |
| 93 |