8021 Aluminum vs. AISI 440B Stainless Steel
8021 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while AISI 440B stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 28 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (4, 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 8021 aluminum and the bottom bar is AISI 440B stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 70 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 2.3 | |
| 3.0 to 18 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 61 | |
| 260 to 850 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 77 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 160 | |
| 740 to 1930 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 130 | |
| 430 to 1860 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 400 | |
| 280 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 170 | |
| 870 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 650 | |
| 1480 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 640 | |
| 1370 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 900 | |
| 480 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 220 | |
| 23 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 23 | |
| 10 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 56 | |
| 2.5 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 180 | |
| 2.9 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.0 | |
| 9.0 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.8 | |
| 7.7 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.1 | |
| 2.2 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 31 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1180 | |
| 120 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 3.4 | |
| 57 to 110 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 49 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 16 | |
| 27 to 70 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 23 | |
| 24 to 45 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 88 | |
| 6.1 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 7.0 | |
| 27 to 70 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 98 to 98.8 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0.75 to 1.0 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 | |
| 16 to 18 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.050 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 1.2 to 1.7 | |
| 78.2 to 83.3 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 1.0 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.75 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.040 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 to 1.0 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.015 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |