5040 Aluminum vs. EN 1.7231 Steel
5040 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while EN 1.7231 steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 30 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (2, 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 1.7231 steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 66 to 74 | |
| 240 to 280 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 70 | |
| 190 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 5.7 to 6.8 | |
| 11 to 12 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 100 to 130 | |
| 360 to 500 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.29 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 73 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 240 to 260 | |
| 790 to 930 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 190 to 230 | |
| 570 to 800 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 400 | |
| 250 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 190 | |
| 420 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 650 | |
| 1460 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 600 | |
| 1420 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 900 | |
| 470 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 160 | |
| 46 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 23 | |
| 13 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 41 | |
| 7.3 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 130 | |
| 8.4 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 2.5 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.8 | |
| 7.8 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.3 | |
| 1.5 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 20 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1180 | |
| 51 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 14 to 15 | |
| 87 to 100 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 260 to 380 | |
| 870 to 1700 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 50 | |
| 24 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 24 to 26 | |
| 28 to 33 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 31 to 32 | |
| 24 to 27 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 64 | |
| 12 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 10 to 11 | |
| 23 to 27 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 95.2 to 98 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0.38 to 0.45 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0.1 to 0.3 | |
| 0.8 to 1.2 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.7 | |
| 96.4 to 98.1 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 1.0 to 1.5 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.9 to 1.4 | |
| 0.6 to 1.0 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0 | |
| 0.15 to 0.3 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.025 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.3 | |
| 0 to 0.6 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |