5251 Aluminum vs. Nickel 690
5251 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while nickel 690 belongs to the nickel alloys. 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 5251 aluminum and the bottom bar is nickel 690.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 44 to 79 | |
| 90 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 68 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 2.0 to 19 | |
| 3.4 to 34 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 59 to 110 | |
| 180 to 300 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 79 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 110 to 160 | |
| 420 to 570 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 180 to 280 | |
| 640 to 990 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 67 to 250 | |
| 250 to 760 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 400 | |
| 320 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 180 | |
| 1010 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 650 | |
| 1380 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 610 | |
| 1340 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 900 | |
| 470 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 150 | |
| 14 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 24 | |
| 14 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 37 | |
| 1.5 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 120 | |
| 1.6 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 50 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.7 | |
| 8.3 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.5 | |
| 8.2 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 120 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1180 | |
| 290 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 5.4 to 27 | |
| 31 to 170 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 33 to 450 | |
| 160 to 1440 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 50 | |
| 24 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 18 to 29 | |
| 21 to 33 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 26 to 35 | |
| 20 to 27 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 61 | |
| 3.5 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 7.9 to 13 | |
| 16 to 25 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 95.5 to 98.2 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.050 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 27 to 31 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 to 0.5 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.5 | |
| 7.0 to 11 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 1.7 to 2.4 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.1 to 0.5 | |
| 0 to 0.5 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 58 to 66 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.4 | |
| 0 to 0.5 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.015 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |