Silicon Nitride vs. Boron Carbide
Both silicon nitride and boron carbide are non-oxide engineering ceramics. There are 15 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (7, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is silicon nitride and the bottom bar is boron carbide.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 600 to 2950 | |
| 1710 to 2200 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 140 to 310 | |
| 240 to 460 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 130 to 810 | |
| 170 to 410 |
| Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 | 3.1 to 6.2 | |
| 2.5 to 3.5 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.24 to 0.27 | |
| 0.17 to 0.19 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 1000 to 1330 | |
| 1000 to 2500 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 720 to 800 | |
| 950 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 12 to 31 | |
| 31 to 90 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 2.5 to 3.2 | |
| 4.5 to 5.6 |
Electrical Properties
| Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz | 8.0 to 10 | |
| 6.4 |
| Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m | 11 to 12 | |
| 0 to 11 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.2 to 3.4 | |
| 2.1 to 2.7 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 34 to 53 | |
| 63 to 100 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 65 to 78 | |
| 91 to 100 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 7.5 to 13 | |
| 16 to 38 |