Ceramic materials are currently interesting as substitutes for the metals traditionally used for engineering applications. This paper focuses on a comparison of ceramic materials: corundum (alumina, Al2O3) and silicon carbide (solid-state sintered) – SSiC with bearing alloy steel 100Cr6, i.e. the material used to make pistons and cylinders of pumps in common rail injection systems. The article is divided into two parts. In the first part, the aforementioned materials are characterized and their properties compared from the perspective of their application in piston-cylinder assemblies of injection pumps. The second part concerns analysis conduct by means of the finite element method and a specialized simulation environment, based on comparing ceramic materials and bearing steel. This comparison was conducted by using a CAD strength model of a piston in a specific application, being a pump with CP3 design. Simulation results confirmed the beneficial qualities of ceramic materials – the level of material deformation is lower for ceramics in comparison to steel.