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Optical Silicon vs. Zinc Selenide

Both optical silicon and zinc selenide are non-glass optical ceramics. There are 12 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (11, 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 optical silicon and the bottom bar is zinc selenide.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 150
69
Poisson's Ratio 0.28
0.28

Thermal Properties

Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 1560
1520
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 700
340
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 150
17
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 3.0
7.3

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 2.3
5.3
Light Transmission Range, µm 1.2 to 15
0.6 to 21
Refractive Index 3.5
2.5

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 35
7.3
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 75
26
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 93
9.5