Silicon Nitride vs. Silicon Carbide
Both silicon nitride and silicon 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 silicon carbide.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 600 to 2950 | |
| 2780 to 3900 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 140 to 310 | |
| 370 to 490 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 130 to 810 | |
| 410 to 600 |
| Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 | 3.1 to 6.2 | |
| 3.4 to 4.6 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.24 to 0.27 | |
| 0.14 to 0.21 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 1000 to 1330 | |
| 500 to 1590 |
| Maximum Thermal Shock, °C | 290 to 750 | |
| 210 to 660 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 720 to 800 | |
| 670 to 1180 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 12 to 31 | |
| 120 to 170 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 2.5 to 3.2 | |
| 4.0 to 4.5 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m | 11 to 12 | |
| 0.94 to 3.3 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.2 to 3.4 | |
| 3.0 to 3.2 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 34 to 53 | |
| 69 to 84 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 65 to 78 | |
| 79 to 82 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 7.5 to 13 | |
| 38 to 79 |