Optical Silicon vs. Hexagonal Boron Nitride
Optical silicon belongs to the non-glass optical ceramics classification, while hexagonal boron nitride belongs to the non-oxide engineering ceramics. There are 13 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (15, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is optical silicon and the bottom bar is hexagonal boron nitride.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 120 | |
| 21 to 250 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 150 | |
| 14 to 60 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 300 | |
| 18 to 140 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.28 | |
| 0.11 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 1350 | |
| 1030 to 2350 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 700 | |
| 840 to 1610 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 150 | |
| 29 to 96 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 3.0 | |
| 0.54 to 18 |
Electrical Properties
| Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz | 12 | |
| 4.0 to 4.4 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.3 | |
| 1.9 to 2.1 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 35 | |
| 4.1 to 18 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 75 | |
| 42 to 69 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 93 | |
| 9.9 to 34 |