5059 Aluminum vs. EN 1.5508 Steel
5059 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while EN 1.5508 steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 30 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (3, 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 5059 aluminum and the bottom bar is EN 1.5508 steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 69 | |
| 190 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 11 to 25 | |
| 11 to 20 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 170 to 240 | |
| 210 to 320 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.29 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 73 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 220 to 250 | |
| 300 to 360 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 350 to 410 | |
| 420 to 1460 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 170 to 300 | |
| 310 to 490 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 390 | |
| 250 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 210 | |
| 400 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 650 | |
| 1460 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 510 | |
| 1420 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 900 | |
| 470 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 110 | |
| 51 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 24 | |
| 13 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 29 | |
| 7.1 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 95 | |
| 8.2 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 1.9 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.7 | |
| 7.8 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 9.1 | |
| 1.4 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 160 | |
| 19 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1160 | |
| 47 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 42 to 75 | |
| 44 to 230 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 220 to 650 | |
| 260 to 640 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 50 | |
| 24 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 36 to 42 | |
| 15 to 52 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 41 to 45 | |
| 16 to 36 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 44 | |
| 14 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 16 to 18 | |
| 12 to 43 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 89.9 to 94 | |
| 0 |
| Boron (B), % | 0 | |
| 0.00080 to 0.0050 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0.2 to 0.25 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 0 to 0.3 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.5 | |
| 97.9 to 99.199 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 5.0 to 6.0 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.6 to 1.2 | |
| 0.6 to 0.9 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.025 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.45 | |
| 0 to 0.3 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.025 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 to 0.2 | |
| 0 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0.4 to 0.9 | |
| 0 |
| Zirconium (Zr), % | 0.050 to 0.25 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |