6081 Aluminum vs. AISI 422 Stainless Steel
6081 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while AISI 422 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 30 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (5, 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 422 stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 69 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 9.0 | |
| 15 to 17 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 110 | |
| 410 to 500 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 76 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 180 | |
| 560 to 660 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 310 | |
| 910 to 1080 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 270 | |
| 670 to 870 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 410 | |
| 270 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 160 | |
| 650 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 640 | |
| 1480 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 610 | |
| 1470 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 900 | |
| 470 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 180 | |
| 24 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 23 | |
| 10 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 47 | |
| 4.7 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 160 | |
| 5.3 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 11 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.7 | |
| 7.9 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.3 | |
| 3.1 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 44 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1180 | |
| 100 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 27 | |
| 140 to 150 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 540 | |
| 1140 to 1910 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 50 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 32 | |
| 32 to 38 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 37 | |
| 26 to 30 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 74 | |
| 6.4 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 14 | |
| 33 to 39 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 96.3 to 98.6 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0.2 to 0.25 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 11 to 12.5 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.5 | |
| 81.9 to 85.8 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0.6 to 1.0 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.1 to 0.45 | |
| 0.5 to 1.0 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0 | |
| 0.9 to 1.3 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 0.5 to 1.0 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.025 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0.7 to 1.1 | |
| 0 to 0.5 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.025 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |
| Tungsten (W), % | 0 | |
| 0.9 to 1.3 |
| Vanadium (V), % | 0 | |
| 0.2 to 0.3 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.2 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |