5040 Aluminum vs. EN 1.4378 Stainless Steel
5040 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while EN 1.4378 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 27 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (6, 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 5040 aluminum and the bottom bar is EN 1.4378 stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 66 to 74 | |
| 190 to 340 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 70 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 5.7 to 6.8 | |
| 14 to 34 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 100 to 130 | |
| 340 to 550 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 77 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 140 to 150 | |
| 510 to 680 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 240 to 260 | |
| 760 to 1130 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 190 to 230 | |
| 430 to 970 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 400 | |
| 290 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 190 | |
| 910 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 650 | |
| 1390 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 600 | |
| 1350 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 900 | |
| 480 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 23 | |
| 17 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 12 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.8 | |
| 7.6 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.3 | |
| 2.7 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 39 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1180 | |
| 150 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 14 to 15 | |
| 150 to 220 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 260 to 380 | |
| 470 to 2370 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 50 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 24 to 26 | |
| 28 to 41 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 31 to 32 | |
| 24 to 31 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 10 to 11 | |
| 16 to 23 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 95.2 to 98 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.080 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0.1 to 0.3 | |
| 17 to 19 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.7 | |
| 61.2 to 69 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 1.0 to 1.5 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.9 to 1.4 | |
| 11.5 to 14.5 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 2.3 to 3.7 |
| Nitrogen (N), % | 0 | |
| 0.2 to 0.4 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.060 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.3 | |
| 0 to 1.0 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |