AISI 316 Stainless Steel vs. EN AC-21200 Aluminum
AISI 316 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while EN AC-21200 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. There are 30 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (6, 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 EN AC-21200 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 160 to 360 | |
| 120 to 130 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 200 | |
| 71 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 8.0 to 55 | |
| 3.9 to 6.2 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 210 to 430 | |
| 110 to 130 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.28 | |
| 0.33 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 78 | |
| 27 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 520 to 1180 | |
| 410 to 440 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 230 to 850 | |
| 270 to 360 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 290 | |
| 390 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 590 | |
| 170 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1400 | |
| 660 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1380 | |
| 550 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 880 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 15 | |
| 130 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 16 | |
| 23 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 2.3 | |
| 34 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 2.6 | |
| 100 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 19 | |
| 10 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.9 | |
| 3.0 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 3.9 | |
| 8.0 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 53 | |
| 150 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 150 | |
| 1150 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 85 to 260 | |
| 16 to 22 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 130 to 1820 | |
| 500 to 930 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 25 | |
| 46 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 18 to 41 | |
| 38 to 40 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 18 to 31 | |
| 41 to 43 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 4.1 | |
| 49 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 11 to 26 | |
| 18 to 19 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 0 | |
| 93.3 to 95.7 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 to 0.080 | |
| 0 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 16 to 18 | |
| 0 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
| 4.0 to 5.0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 62 to 72 | |
| 0 to 0.2 |
| Lead (Pb), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 0.15 to 0.5 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0 to 2.0 | |
| 0.2 to 0.5 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 2.0 to 3.0 | |
| 0 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 10 to 14 | |
| 0 to 0.050 |
| Nitrogen (N), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.045 | |
| 0 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.75 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 0 |
| Tin (Sn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |