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Aluminum Nitride vs. Zamak 3

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

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

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

Thermal Properties

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

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 2.9 to 3.3
6.4

Common Calculations

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