Optical Silicon vs. PTFE
Optical silicon and PTFE belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. Optical silicon is a ceramic material, while PTFE is polymeric. Therefore, their performance will be even more dissimilar than would be suggested by the difference in properties. There are 11 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (19, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is optical silicon and the bottom bar is PTFE.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 120 | |
| 6.9 to 24 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 300 | |
| 13 to 50 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 110 | |
| 13 to 25 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 1350 | |
| 260 to 270 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1560 | |
| 330 to 340 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 150 | |
| 0.24 to 0.65 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 3.0 | |
| 110 to 120 |
Electrical Properties
| Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz | 12 | |
| 2.1 to 2.4 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.3 | |
| 2.1 to 2.3 |
Common Calculations
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 1.7 to 3.2 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 22 | |
| 5.7 to 8.7 |