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Silicon Nitride vs. Zamak 3

Silicon nitride and Zamak 3 belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. Silicon nitride is a ceramic material, while Zamak 3 is a metal. Therefore, their performance will be even more dissimilar than would be suggested by the difference in properties. There are 12 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (29, 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 silicon nitride and the bottom bar is Zamak 3.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 600 to 2950
410
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 140 to 310
86
Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 3.1 to 6.2
12
Poisson's Ratio 0.24 to 0.27
0.25

Thermal Properties

Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 1000 to 1330
95
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 720 to 800
410
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 12 to 31
110
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 2.5 to 3.2
27

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 2.2 to 3.4
6.4

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 34 to 53
7.5
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 65 to 78
23
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 7.5 to 13
43