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2024 Aluminum vs. S21904 Stainless Steel

2024 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while S21904 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 30 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (4, 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 S21904 stainless steel.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 71
200
Elongation at Break, % 4.0 to 16
17 to 51
Fatigue Strength, MPa 90 to 180
380 to 550
Poisson's Ratio 0.33
0.28
Shear Modulus, GPa 27
78
Shear Strength, MPa 130 to 320
510 to 620
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 200 to 540
700 to 1000
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 100 to 490
390 to 910

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g 390
290
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 200
980
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C 640
1400
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 500
1350
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 880
480
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 120
14
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 23
17

Electrical Properties

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS 30
2.5
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS 90
2.9

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price, % relative 11
15
Density, g/cm3 3.0
7.7
Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material 8.3
3.0
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg 150
43
Embodied Water, L/kg 1140
160

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 20 to 68
160 to 310
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 70 to 1680
380 to 2070
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 13
14
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 46
25
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 18 to 50
25 to 36
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 25 to 49
23 to 29
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 46
3.8
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 8.6 to 24
15 to 21

Alloy Composition

Aluminum (Al), % 90.7 to 94.7
0
Carbon (C), % 0
0 to 0.040
Chromium (Cr), % 0 to 0.1
19 to 21.5
Copper (Cu), % 3.8 to 4.9
0
Iron (Fe), % 0 to 0.5
59.5 to 67.4
Magnesium (Mg), % 1.2 to 1.8
0
Manganese (Mn), % 0.3 to 0.9
8.0 to 10
Nickel (Ni), % 0
5.5 to 7.5
Nitrogen (N), % 0
0.15 to 0.4
Phosphorus (P), % 0
0 to 0.045
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