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AISI 431 Stainless Steel vs. 4115 Aluminum

AISI 431 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 4115 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. There are 31 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (3, 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 431 stainless steel and the bottom bar is 4115 aluminum.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Brinell Hardness 250
38 to 68
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 200
70
Elongation at Break, % 15 to 17
1.1 to 11
Fatigue Strength, MPa 430 to 610
39 to 76
Poisson's Ratio 0.28
0.33
Shear Modulus, GPa 77
26
Shear Strength, MPa 550 to 840
71 to 130
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 890 to 1380
120 to 220
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 710 to 1040
39 to 190

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g 280
420
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 850
160
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C 1510
640
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 1450
590
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 480
900
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 26
160
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 12
23

Electrical Properties

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS 2.6
41
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS 3.0
140

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price, % relative 9.0
9.5
Density, g/cm3 7.7
2.7
Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material 2.2
8.1
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg 31
150
Embodied Water, L/kg 120
1160

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 140 to 180
2.1 to 10
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 1270 to 2770
11 to 270
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 14
14
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 25
50
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 32 to 50
12 to 23
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 27 to 36
20 to 30
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 7.0
66
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 28 to 43
5.2 to 9.9

Alloy Composition

Aluminum (Al), % 0
94.6 to 97.4
Carbon (C), % 0 to 0.2
0
Chromium (Cr), % 15 to 17
0
Copper (Cu), % 0
0.1 to 0.5
Iron (Fe), % 78.2 to 83.8
0 to 0.7
Magnesium (Mg), % 0
0.1 to 0.5
Manganese (Mn), % 0 to 1.0
0.6 to 1.2
Nickel (Ni), % 1.3 to 2.5
0
Phosphorus (P), % 0 to 0.040
0
Silicon (Si), % 0 to 1.0
1.8 to 2.2
Sulfur (S), % 0 to 0.030
0
Zinc (Zn), % 0
0 to 0.2
Residuals, % 0
0 to 0.15