242.0 Aluminum vs. AISI 304 Stainless Steel
242.0 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while AISI 304 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 32 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (3, 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 242.0 aluminum and the bottom bar is AISI 304 stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 70 to 110 | |
| 170 to 360 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 0.5 to 1.5 | |
| 8.0 to 43 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 55 to 110 | |
| 210 to 440 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 27 | |
| 77 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 150 to 240 | |
| 400 to 690 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 180 to 290 | |
| 580 to 1180 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 120 to 220 | |
| 230 to 860 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 390 | |
| 290 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 210 | |
| 710 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 640 | |
| 1450 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 530 | |
| 1400 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 870 | |
| 480 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 130 to 170 | |
| 16 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 22 | |
| 17 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 33 to 44 | |
| 2.4 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 96 to 130 | |
| 2.7 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 12 | |
| 15 |
| Calomel Potential, mV | -650 | |
| -80 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 3.1 | |
| 7.8 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.3 | |
| 3.0 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 43 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1130 | |
| 150 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 1.3 to 3.4 | |
| 86 to 250 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 110 to 340 | |
| 140 to 1870 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 45 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 16 to 26 | |
| 21 to 42 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 23 to 32 | |
| 20 to 32 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 50 to 62 | |
| 4.2 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 8.0 to 13 | |
| 12 to 25 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 88.4 to 93.6 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.080 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 18 to 20 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 3.5 to 4.5 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 1.0 | |
| 66.5 to 74 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 1.2 to 1.8 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0 to 0.35 | |
| 0 to 2.0 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 1.7 to 2.3 | |
| 8.0 to 10.5 |
| Nitrogen (N), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.045 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.7 | |
| 0 to 0.75 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 0 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.35 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |