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A356.0 Aluminum vs. AISI 316 Stainless Steel

A356.0 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while AISI 316 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 29 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (8, 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 A356.0 aluminum and the bottom bar is AISI 316 stainless steel.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 70
200
Elongation at Break, % 3.0 to 6.0
8.0 to 55
Fatigue Strength, MPa 50 to 90
210 to 430
Poisson's Ratio 0.33
0.28
Shear Modulus, GPa 26
78
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 160 to 270
520 to 1180
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 83 to 200
230 to 850

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g 500
290
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 170
590
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C 610
1400
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 570
1380
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 900
470
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 150
15
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 21
16

Electrical Properties

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS 40
2.3
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS 140
2.6

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price, % relative 9.5
19
Density, g/cm3 2.6
7.9
Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material 8.0
3.9
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg 150
53
Embodied Water, L/kg 1110
150

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 4.8 to 15
85 to 260
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 49 to 300
130 to 1820
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 15
14
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 53
25
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 17 to 29
18 to 41
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 25 to 36
18 to 31
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 64
4.1
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 7.6 to 13
11 to 26

Alloy Composition

Aluminum (Al), % 91.1 to 93.3
0
Carbon (C), % 0
0 to 0.080
Chromium (Cr), % 0
16 to 18
Copper (Cu), % 0 to 0.2
0
Iron (Fe), % 0 to 0.2
62 to 72
Magnesium (Mg), % 0.25 to 0.45
0
Manganese (Mn), % 0 to 0.1
0 to 2.0
Molybdenum (Mo), % 0
2.0 to 3.0
Nickel (Ni), % 0
10 to 14
Nitrogen (N), % 0
0 to 0.1
Phosphorus (P), % 0
0 to 0.045
Silicon (Si), % 6.5 to 7.5
0 to 0.75
Sulfur (S), % 0
0 to 0.030
Titanium (Ti), % 0 to 0.2
0
Zinc (Zn), % 0 to 0.1
0
Residuals, % 0 to 0.15
0