5021 Aluminum vs. S45503 Stainless Steel
5021 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while S45503 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 25 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (10, 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 5021 aluminum and the bottom bar is S45503 stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 68 | |
| 190 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 1.1 to 3.4 | |
| 4.6 to 6.8 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 85 to 110 | |
| 710 to 800 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 75 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 170 | |
| 940 to 1070 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 300 to 310 | |
| 1610 to 1850 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 240 to 270 | |
| 1430 to 1700 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 400 | |
| 270 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 180 | |
| 760 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 640 | |
| 1440 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 590 | |
| 1400 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 900 | |
| 470 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 23 | |
| 11 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 15 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.7 | |
| 7.9 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.6 | |
| 3.4 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 48 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1180 | |
| 120 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 3.1 to 10 | |
| 82 to 110 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 50 | |
| 24 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 30 to 32 | |
| 57 to 65 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 37 | |
| 39 to 43 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 13 to 14 | |
| 56 to 64 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 95.2 to 97.7 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.010 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 11 to 12.5 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 1.5 to 2.5 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.5 | |
| 72.4 to 78.9 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 2.2 to 2.8 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.1 to 0.5 | |
| 0 to 0.5 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.5 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 7.5 to 9.5 |
| Niobium (Nb), % | 0 | |
| 0.1 to 0.5 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.010 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.4 | |
| 0 to 0.2 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.010 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 | |
| 1.0 to 1.4 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |