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5040 Aluminum vs. S21800 Stainless Steel

5040 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while S21800 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 27 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (8, 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 S21800 stainless steel.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Brinell Hardness 66 to 74
210
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 70
190
Elongation at Break, % 5.7 to 6.8
40
Fatigue Strength, MPa 100 to 130
330
Poisson's Ratio 0.33
0.28
Shear Modulus, GPa 26
75
Shear Strength, MPa 140 to 150
510
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 240 to 260
740
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 190 to 230
390

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g 400
340
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 190
900
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C 650
1360
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 600
1310
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 900
500
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 23
16

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price, % relative 9.5
15
Density, g/cm3 2.8
7.5
Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material 8.3
3.1
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg 150
45
Embodied Water, L/kg 1180
150

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 14 to 15
250
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 260 to 380
390
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 14
14
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 50
26
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 24 to 26
27
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 31 to 32
24
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 10 to 11
17

Alloy Composition

Aluminum (Al), % 95.2 to 98
0
Carbon (C), % 0
0 to 0.1
Chromium (Cr), % 0.1 to 0.3
16 to 18
Copper (Cu), % 0 to 0.25
0
Iron (Fe), % 0 to 0.7
59.1 to 65.4
Magnesium (Mg), % 1.0 to 1.5
0
Manganese (Mn), % 0.9 to 1.4
7.0 to 9.0
Nickel (Ni), % 0
8.0 to 9.0
Nitrogen (N), % 0
0.080 to 0.18
Phosphorus (P), % 0
0 to 0.060
Silicon (Si), % 0 to 0.3
3.5 to 4.5
Sulfur (S), % 0
0 to 0.030
Zinc (Zn), % 0 to 0.25
0
Residuals, % 0 to 0.15
0