AISI 309 Stainless Steel vs. 5182 Aluminum
AISI 309 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 5182 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. There are 30 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 AISI 309 stainless steel and the bottom bar is 5182 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 200 | |
| 68 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 34 to 47 | |
| 1.1 to 12 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 250 to 280 | |
| 100 to 130 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.27 | |
| 0.33 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 78 | |
| 25 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 420 to 470 | |
| 170 to 240 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 600 to 710 | |
| 280 to 420 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 260 to 350 | |
| 130 to 360 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 290 | |
| 390 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 980 | |
| 180 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1450 | |
| 640 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1400 | |
| 590 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 480 | |
| 900 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 16 | |
| 130 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 15 | |
| 24 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 2.2 | |
| 28 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 2.5 | |
| 94 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 19 | |
| 9.5 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.8 | |
| 2.7 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 3.6 | |
| 8.9 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 51 | |
| 150 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 170 | |
| 1180 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 200 to 230 | |
| 2.6 to 49 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 170 to 310 | |
| 120 to 950 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 25 | |
| 51 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 21 to 25 | |
| 29 to 44 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 20 to 23 | |
| 36 to 47 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 4.3 | |
| 53 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 14 to 16 | |
| 12 to 19 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 0 | |
| 93.2 to 95.8 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 to 0.2 | |
| 0 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 22 to 24 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.15 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 58 to 66 | |
| 0 to 0.35 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 4.0 to 5.0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0 to 2.0 | |
| 0.2 to 0.5 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 12 to 15 | |
| 0 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.045 | |
| 0 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.75 | |
| 0 to 0.2 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 0 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.15 |