6081 Aluminum vs. EN 1.5662 Steel
6081 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while EN 1.5662 steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 28 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 EN 1.5662 steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 69 | |
| 190 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 9.0 | |
| 20 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 110 | |
| 380 to 450 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.29 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 73 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 180 | |
| 460 to 470 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 310 | |
| 740 to 750 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 270 | |
| 550 to 660 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 410 | |
| 250 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 160 | |
| 430 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 640 | |
| 1460 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 610 | |
| 1410 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 900 | |
| 470 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 23 | |
| 13 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 47 | |
| 8.7 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 160 | |
| 9.8 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 7.5 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.7 | |
| 8.0 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.3 | |
| 2.3 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 31 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1180 | |
| 63 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 27 | |
| 140 to 150 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 540 | |
| 810 to 1150 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 50 | |
| 24 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 32 | |
| 26 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 37 | |
| 23 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 14 | |
| 22 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 96.3 to 98.6 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.5 | |
| 88.6 to 91.2 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0.6 to 1.0 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.1 to 0.45 | |
| 0.3 to 0.8 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 8.5 to 10 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.020 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0.7 to 1.1 | |
| 0 to 0.35 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.0050 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |
| Vanadium (V), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.050 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.2 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |