Zirconia vs. Silicon Carbide
Zirconia belongs to the oxide-based engineering ceramics classification, while silicon carbide belongs to the non-oxide engineering ceramics. There are 20 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (2, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is zirconia and the bottom bar is silicon carbide.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Compressive (Crushing) Strength, MPa | 1260 to 3080 | |
| 2780 to 3900 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 to 200 | |
| 370 to 490 |
| Flexural Strength, MPa | 630 to 970 | |
| 410 to 600 |
| Fracture Toughness, MPa-m1/2 | 8.0 to 11 | |
| 3.4 to 4.6 |
| Knoop Hardness | 1210 to 1300 | |
| 2500 to 2900 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.25 to 0.29 | |
| 0.14 to 0.21 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 410 to 450 | |
| 210 to 370 |
Thermal Properties
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 500 to 1330 | |
| 500 to 1590 |
| Maximum Thermal Shock, °C | 300 to 350 | |
| 210 to 660 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 400 to 510 | |
| 670 to 1180 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 2.2 to 4.3 | |
| 120 to 170 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 8.8 to 9.5 | |
| 4.0 to 4.5 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Resistivity Order of Magnitude, 10x Ω-m | 4.5 to 11 | |
| 0.94 to 3.3 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 5.7 to 6.0 | |
| 3.0 to 3.2 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 19 | |
| 69 to 84 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 33 to 34 | |
| 79 to 82 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 19 to 22 | |
| 18 to 34 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 21 to 23 | |
| 24 to 38 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 0.73 to 1.8 | |
| 38 to 79 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 15 to 19 | |
| 6.9 to 18 |