5040 Aluminum vs. S45500 Stainless Steel
5040 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while S45500 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 26 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (9, 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 S45500 stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 66 to 74 | |
| 280 to 500 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 70 | |
| 190 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 5.7 to 6.8 | |
| 3.4 to 11 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 100 to 130 | |
| 570 to 890 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 75 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 140 to 150 | |
| 790 to 1090 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 240 to 260 | |
| 1370 to 1850 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 190 to 230 | |
| 1240 to 1700 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 400 | |
| 270 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 190 | |
| 760 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 650 | |
| 1440 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 600 | |
| 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 | |
| 17 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.8 | |
| 7.9 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.3 | |
| 3.8 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 57 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1180 | |
| 120 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 14 to 15 | |
| 45 to 190 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 50 | |
| 24 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 24 to 26 | |
| 48 to 65 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 31 to 32 | |
| 35 to 42 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 10 to 11 | |
| 48 to 64 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 95.2 to 98 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.050 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0.1 to 0.3 | |
| 11 to 12.5 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 1.5 to 2.5 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.7 | |
| 71.5 to 79.2 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 1.0 to 1.5 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.9 to 1.4 | |
| 0 to 0.5 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.5 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 7.5 to 9.5 |
| Niobium (Nb), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.5 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.040 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.3 | |
| 0 to 0.5 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Tantalum (Ta), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.5 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 | |
| 0.8 to 1.4 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |