5056 Aluminum vs. S81921 Stainless Steel
5056 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while S81921 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 30 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (5, 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 S81921 stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 67 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 4.9 to 31 | |
| 29 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 140 to 200 | |
| 370 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 25 | |
| 79 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 170 to 240 | |
| 460 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 290 to 460 | |
| 710 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 150 to 410 | |
| 500 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 400 | |
| 290 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 190 | |
| 990 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 640 | |
| 1430 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 570 | |
| 1390 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 910 | |
| 480 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 130 | |
| 15 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 24 | |
| 13 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 29 | |
| 2.2 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 99 | |
| 2.5 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 14 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.7 | |
| 7.7 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 9.0 | |
| 2.9 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 41 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1180 | |
| 150 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 12 to 140 | |
| 180 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 170 to 1220 | |
| 630 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 51 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 30 to 48 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 36 to 50 | |
| 23 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 53 | |
| 4.0 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 13 to 20 | |
| 20 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 93 to 95.4 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0.050 to 0.2 | |
| 19 to 22 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.4 | |
| 66.7 to 75.9 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 4.5 to 5.6 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.050 to 0.2 | |
| 2.0 to 4.0 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0 | |
| 1.0 to 2.0 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 2.0 to 4.0 |
| Nitrogen (N), % | 0 | |
| 0.14 to 0.2 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.040 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.3 | |
| 0 to 1.0 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |