5657 Aluminum vs. S21900 Stainless Steel
5657 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while S21900 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 31 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 5657 aluminum and the bottom bar is S21900 stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 40 to 50 | |
| 220 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 68 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 6.6 to 15 | |
| 50 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 74 to 88 | |
| 380 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 78 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 92 to 110 | |
| 510 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 150 to 200 | |
| 710 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 140 to 170 | |
| 390 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 400 | |
| 290 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 180 | |
| 980 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 660 | |
| 1400 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 640 | |
| 1350 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 900 | |
| 480 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 210 | |
| 14 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 24 | |
| 17 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 54 | |
| 2.5 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 180 | |
| 2.9 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 15 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.7 | |
| 7.7 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.4 | |
| 3.0 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 160 | |
| 43 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1200 | |
| 160 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 9.7 to 27 | |
| 300 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 140 to 200 | |
| 380 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 50 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 15 to 20 | |
| 26 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 23 to 28 | |
| 23 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 84 | |
| 3.8 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 6.7 to 8.6 | |
| 15 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 98.5 to 99.4 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.080 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 | |
| 19 to 21.5 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |
| Gallium (Ga), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 59.4 to 67.4 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0.6 to 1.0 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 8.0 to 10 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 5.5 to 7.5 |
| Nitrogen (N), % | 0 | |
| 0.15 to 0.4 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.045 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.080 | |
| 0 to 1.0 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Vanadium (V), % | 0 to 0.050 | |
| 0 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.050 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.050 | |
| 0 |