A356.0 Aluminum vs. SAE-AISI M3 Class 2 Steel
A356.0 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while SAE-AISI M3 class 2 steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 21 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (10, 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 SAE-AISI M3 class 2 steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 70 | |
| 200 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.29 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 77 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 160 to 270 | |
| 770 to 2210 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 500 | |
| 260 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 610 | |
| 1620 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 570 | |
| 1570 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 900 | |
| 440 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 150 | |
| 26 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 21 | |
| 12 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 25 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.6 | |
| 8.3 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.0 | |
| 12 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 180 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1110 | |
| 110 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 15 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 53 | |
| 23 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 17 to 29 | |
| 26 to 74 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 25 to 36 | |
| 22 to 45 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 64 | |
| 7.2 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 7.6 to 13 | |
| 24 to 69 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 91.1 to 93.3 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 1.2 to 1.3 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 | |
| 3.8 to 4.5 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.2 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.2 | |
| 75.8 to 82.3 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0.25 to 0.45 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0.15 to 0.4 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0 | |
| 4.8 to 6.5 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.3 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 6.5 to 7.5 | |
| 0.2 to 0.45 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 to 0.2 | |
| 0 |
| Tungsten (W), % | 0 | |
| 5.0 to 6.8 |
| Vanadium (V), % | 0 | |
| 2.8 to 3.8 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |