AISI 316 Stainless Steel vs. 2218 Aluminum
AISI 316 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 2218 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. There are 31 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 AISI 316 stainless steel and the bottom bar is 2218 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 160 to 360 | |
| 95 to 110 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 200 | |
| 73 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 8.0 to 55 | |
| 6.8 to 10 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 210 to 430 | |
| 110 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.28 | |
| 0.33 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 78 | |
| 27 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 350 to 690 | |
| 210 to 250 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 520 to 1180 | |
| 330 to 430 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 230 to 850 | |
| 260 to 310 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 290 | |
| 390 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 590 | |
| 220 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1400 | |
| 640 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1380 | |
| 510 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 870 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 15 | |
| 140 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 16 | |
| 22 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 2.3 | |
| 37 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 2.6 | |
| 110 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 19 | |
| 11 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.9 | |
| 3.1 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 3.9 | |
| 8.2 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 53 | |
| 150 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 150 | |
| 1130 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 85 to 260 | |
| 27 to 31 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 130 to 1820 | |
| 450 to 650 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 25 | |
| 45 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 18 to 41 | |
| 30 to 39 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 18 to 31 | |
| 34 to 41 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 4.1 | |
| 52 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 11 to 26 | |
| 15 to 19 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 0 | |
| 88.8 to 93.6 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 to 0.080 | |
| 0 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 16 to 18 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
| 3.5 to 4.5 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 62 to 72 | |
| 0 to 1.0 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 1.2 to 1.8 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0 to 2.0 | |
| 0 to 0.2 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 2.0 to 3.0 | |
| 0 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 10 to 14 | |
| 1.7 to 2.3 |
| Nitrogen (N), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.045 | |
| 0 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.75 | |
| 0 to 0.9 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 0 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.15 |