Boron Carbide vs. Silicon Carbide
Both boron carbide and silicon carbide are non-oxide engineering ceramics. There are 19 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (2, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is boron carbide and the bottom bar is silicon carbide.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 1710 to 2200 | |
| 2780 to 3900 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 240 to 460 | |
| 370 to 490 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 170 to 410 | |
| 410 to 600 |
| Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 | 2.5 to 3.5 | |
| 3.4 to 4.6 |
| Knoop Hardness | 2600 to 3200 | |
| 2500 to 2900 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.17 to 0.19 | |
| 0.14 to 0.21 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 350 | |
| 210 to 370 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 1000 to 2500 | |
| 500 to 1590 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 950 | |
| 670 to 1180 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 31 to 90 | |
| 120 to 170 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 4.5 to 5.6 | |
| 4.0 to 4.5 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m | 0 to 11 | |
| 0.94 to 3.3 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.1 to 2.7 | |
| 3.0 to 3.2 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 63 to 100 | |
| 69 to 84 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 91 to 100 | |
| 79 to 82 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 37 to 47 | |
| 18 to 34 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 42 to 53 | |
| 24 to 38 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 16 to 38 | |
| 38 to 79 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 9.7 to 20 | |
| 6.9 to 18 |