5056 Aluminum vs. C55281 Copper
5056 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while C55281 copper belongs to the copper alloys. There are 18 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (14, 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 5056 aluminum and the bottom bar is C55281 copper.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 67 | |
| 110 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.34 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 25 | |
| 40 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 290 to 460 | |
| 190 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 400 | |
| 190 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 190 | |
| 200 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 640 | |
| 810 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 570 | |
| 640 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 910 | |
| 400 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 24 | |
| 16 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.7 | |
| 8.7 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 9.0 | |
| 7.0 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 110 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 6.9 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 51 | |
| 18 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 30 to 48 | |
| 6.1 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 36 to 50 | |
| 8.5 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 13 to 20 | |
| 7.7 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 93 to 95.4 | |
| 0 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0.050 to 0.2 | |
| 0 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 88.5 to 89.4 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.4 | |
| 0 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 4.5 to 5.6 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.050 to 0.2 | |
| 0 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 5.8 to 6.2 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.3 | |
| 0 |
| Silver (Ag), % | 0 | |
| 4.8 to 5.2 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.15 |