6081 Aluminum vs. AISI 205 Stainless Steel
6081 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while AISI 205 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 26 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (7, 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 6081 aluminum and the bottom bar is AISI 205 stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 69 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 9.0 | |
| 11 to 51 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 110 | |
| 410 to 640 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 77 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 180 | |
| 560 to 850 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 310 | |
| 800 to 1430 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 270 | |
| 450 to 1100 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 410 | |
| 280 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 160 | |
| 880 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 640 | |
| 1380 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 610 | |
| 1340 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 900 | |
| 480 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 23 | |
| 18 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 11 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.7 | |
| 7.6 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.3 | |
| 2.6 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 37 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1180 | |
| 150 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 27 | |
| 150 to 430 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 540 | |
| 510 to 3060 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 50 | |
| 26 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 32 | |
| 29 to 52 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 37 | |
| 25 to 37 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 14 | |
| 16 to 29 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 96.3 to 98.6 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0.12 to 0.25 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 16.5 to 18.5 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.5 | |
| 62.6 to 68.1 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0.6 to 1.0 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.1 to 0.45 | |
| 14 to 15.5 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 1.0 to 1.7 |
| Nitrogen (N), % | 0 | |
| 0.32 to 0.4 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.060 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0.7 to 1.1 | |
| 0 to 1.0 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.2 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |