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2025 Aluminum vs. S82012 Stainless Steel

2025 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while S82012 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 2025 aluminum and the bottom bar is S82012 stainless steel.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 72
200
Elongation at Break, % 15
40
Fatigue Strength, MPa 130
480
Poisson's Ratio 0.33
0.28
Shear Modulus, GPa 27
78
Shear Strength, MPa 240
550
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 400
800
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 260
560

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g 400
280
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 190
950
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C 640
1430
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 520
1380
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 870
480
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 150
15
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 23
13

Electrical Properties

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS 40
2.2
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS 120
2.5

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price, % relative 10
11
Density, g/cm3 3.0
7.7
Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material 7.9
2.4
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg 150
35
Embodied Water, L/kg 1130
140

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 55
290
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 450
790
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 13
14
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 46
25
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 37
29
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 40
25
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 58
3.9
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 18
23

Alloy Composition

Aluminum (Al), % 90.9 to 95.2
0
Carbon (C), % 0
0 to 0.050
Chromium (Cr), % 0 to 0.1
19 to 20.5
Copper (Cu), % 3.9 to 5.0
0 to 1.0
Iron (Fe), % 0 to 1.0
71.3 to 77.9
Magnesium (Mg), % 0 to 0.050
0
Manganese (Mn), % 0.4 to 1.2
2.0 to 4.0
Molybdenum (Mo), % 0
0.1 to 0.6
Nickel (Ni), % 0
0.8 to 1.5
Nitrogen (N), % 0
0.16 to 0.26
Phosphorus (P), % 0
0 to 0.040
Silicon (Si), % 0.5 to 1.2
0 to 0.8
Sulfur (S), % 0
0 to 0.0050
Titanium (Ti), % 0 to 0.15
0
Zinc (Zn), % 0 to 0.25
0
Residuals, % 0 to 0.15
0