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2024 Aluminum vs. AISI 420 Stainless Steel

2024 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while AISI 420 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 30 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (5, 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 2024 aluminum and the bottom bar is AISI 420 stainless steel.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 71
190
Elongation at Break, % 4.0 to 16
8.0 to 15
Fatigue Strength, MPa 90 to 180
220 to 670
Poisson's Ratio 0.33
0.28
Shear Modulus, GPa 27
76
Shear Strength, MPa 130 to 320
420 to 1010
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 200 to 540
690 to 1720
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 100 to 490
380 to 1310

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g 390
280
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 200
620
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C 640
1510
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 500
1450
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 880
480
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 120
27
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 23
10

Electrical Properties

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS 30
3.0
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS 90
3.5

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price, % relative 11
7.5
Density, g/cm3 3.0
7.7
Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material 8.3
2.0
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg 150
28
Embodied Water, L/kg 1140
100

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 20 to 68
88 to 130
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 70 to 1680
380 to 4410
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 13
14
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 46
25
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 18 to 50
25 to 62
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 25 to 49
22 to 41
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 46
7.3
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 8.6 to 24
25 to 62

Alloy Composition

Aluminum (Al), % 90.7 to 94.7
0
Carbon (C), % 0
0.15 to 0.4
Chromium (Cr), % 0 to 0.1
12 to 14
Copper (Cu), % 3.8 to 4.9
0
Iron (Fe), % 0 to 0.5
82.3 to 87.9
Magnesium (Mg), % 1.2 to 1.8
0
Manganese (Mn), % 0.3 to 0.9
0 to 1.0
Molybdenum (Mo), % 0
0 to 0.5
Nickel (Ni), % 0
0 to 0.75
Phosphorus (P), % 0
0 to 0.040
Silicon (Si), % 0 to 0.5
0 to 1.0
Sulfur (S), % 0
0 to 0.030
Titanium (Ti), % 0 to 0.15
0
Zinc (Zn), % 0 to 0.25
0
Zirconium (Zr), % 0 to 0.2
0
Residuals, % 0 to 0.15
0

Comparable Variants