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Tungsten Carbide vs. Zamak 3

Tungsten carbide and Zamak 3 belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. Tungsten carbide 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 17 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (21, 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 tungsten carbide and the bottom bar is Zamak 3.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 4780
410
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 630
86
Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 12
12
Knoop Hardness 1670
110
Poisson's Ratio 0.24
0.25
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 350
280

Thermal Properties

Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 1000
95
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 280
410
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 85
110
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 5.4
27

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 15
6.4

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 24
7.5
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 20
23
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 6.6
12
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 7.5
15
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 21
43
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 7.2
8.6