5657 Aluminum vs. EN 1.4306 Stainless Steel
5657 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while EN 1.4306 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 31 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (2, 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 5657 aluminum and the bottom bar is EN 1.4306 stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 40 to 50 | |
| 190 to 270 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 68 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 6.6 to 15 | |
| 14 to 45 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 74 to 88 | |
| 190 to 330 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 77 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 92 to 110 | |
| 400 to 550 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 150 to 200 | |
| 580 to 900 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 140 to 170 | |
| 210 to 570 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 400 | |
| 290 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 180 | |
| 960 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 660 | |
| 1420 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 640 | |
| 1380 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 900 | |
| 480 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 210 | |
| 15 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 24 | |
| 16 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 54 | |
| 2.4 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 180 | |
| 2.7 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 16 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.7 | |
| 7.8 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.4 | |
| 3.2 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 160 | |
| 45 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1200 | |
| 150 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 9.7 to 27 | |
| 110 to 200 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 140 to 200 | |
| 110 to 820 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 50 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 15 to 20 | |
| 21 to 32 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 23 to 28 | |
| 20 to 27 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 84 | |
| 4.0 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 6.7 to 8.6 | |
| 13 to 20 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 98.5 to 99.4 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 | |
| 18 to 20 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |
| Gallium (Ga), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 64.8 to 72 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0.6 to 1.0 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 0 to 2.0 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 10 to 12 |
| Nitrogen (N), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.045 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.080 | |
| 0 to 1.0 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.015 |
| Vanadium (V), % | 0 to 0.050 | |
| 0 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.050 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.050 | |
| 0 |