5059 Aluminum vs. SAE-AISI 1040 Steel
5059 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while SAE-AISI 1040 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 SAE-AISI 1040 steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 69 | |
| 190 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 11 to 25 | |
| 13 to 20 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 170 to 240 | |
| 220 to 340 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.29 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 73 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 220 to 250 | |
| 350 to 390 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 350 to 410 | |
| 570 to 640 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 170 to 300 | |
| 320 to 530 |
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 | |
| 12 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 29 | |
| 7.0 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 95 | |
| 8.0 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 1.8 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.7 | |
| 7.8 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 9.1 | |
| 1.4 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 160 | |
| 18 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1160 | |
| 46 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 42 to 75 | |
| 79 to 96 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 220 to 650 | |
| 270 to 760 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 50 | |
| 24 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 36 to 42 | |
| 20 to 23 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 41 to 45 | |
| 19 to 21 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 44 | |
| 14 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 16 to 18 | |
| 18 to 20 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 89.9 to 94 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0.37 to 0.44 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 0 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.5 | |
| 98.6 to 99.03 |
| 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 0.040 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.45 | |
| 0 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.050 |
| 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 |