MakeItFrom.com
Menu (ESC)

AISI 316 Stainless Steel vs. 6463 Aluminum

AISI 316 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 6463 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 6463 aluminum.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Brinell Hardness 160 to 360
42 to 74
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 200
68
Elongation at Break, % 8.0 to 55
9.0 to 17
Fatigue Strength, MPa 210 to 430
45 to 76
Poisson's Ratio 0.28
0.33
Shear Modulus, GPa 78
26
Shear Strength, MPa 350 to 690
86 to 150
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 520 to 1180
140 to 230
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 230 to 850
82 to 200

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g 290
400
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 590
160
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C 1400
660
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 1380
620
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 470
900
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 15
190 to 210
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 16
23

Electrical Properties

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS 2.3
50 to 55
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS 2.6
170 to 180

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price, % relative 19
9.5
Density, g/cm3 7.9
2.7
Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material 3.9
8.3
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg 53
150
Embodied Water, L/kg 150
1190

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 85 to 260
17 to 25
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 130 to 1820
50 to 300
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 14
14
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 25
50
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 18 to 41
14 to 24
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 18 to 31
22 to 31
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 4.1
79 to 86
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 11 to 26
6.3 to 10

Alloy Composition

Aluminum (Al), % 0
97.9 to 99.4
Carbon (C), % 0 to 0.080
0
Chromium (Cr), % 16 to 18
0
Copper (Cu), % 0
0 to 0.2
Iron (Fe), % 62 to 72
0 to 0.15
Magnesium (Mg), % 0
0.45 to 0.9
Manganese (Mn), % 0 to 2.0
0 to 0.050
Molybdenum (Mo), % 2.0 to 3.0
0
Nickel (Ni), % 10 to 14
0
Nitrogen (N), % 0 to 0.1
0
Phosphorus (P), % 0 to 0.045
0
Silicon (Si), % 0 to 0.75
0.2 to 0.6
Sulfur (S), % 0 to 0.030
0
Zinc (Zn), % 0
0 to 0.050
Residuals, % 0
0 to 0.15