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Zirconia vs. Mullite

Both zirconia and mullite are oxide-based engineering ceramics. There are 22 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (2, 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 zirconia and the bottom bar is mullite.

Zirconia (Zirconium Dioxide, ZrO2)Mullite
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa 1260 to 3080
800
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 190 to 200
110 to 170
Flexural Strength, MPa 630 to 970
130 to 160
Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 8.0 to 11
2.0
Knoop Hardness 1210 to 1300
750
Poisson's Ratio 0.25 to 0.29
0.25
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 410 to 450
160

Thermal Properties

Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 500 to 1330
1680
Maximum Thermal Shock, °C 300 to 350
170 to 230
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 400 to 510
950
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 2.2 to 4.3
3.5 to 11
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 8.8 to 9.5
5.8

Electrical Properties

Dielectric Constant (Relative Permittivity) At 1 MHz 28
6.3
Dielectric Strength (Breakdown Potential), kV/mm 7.7 to 9.0
16 to 17
Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m 4.5 to 11
10 to 11

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Density, g/cm3 5.7 to 6.0
2.7 to 3.0

Common Calculations

Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 19
22 to 31
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 33 to 34
58 to 62
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 19 to 22
15 to 17
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 21 to 23
22 to 24
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 0.73 to 1.8
1.4 to 3.7
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 15 to 19
12 to 19