ASTM A36 Carbon Steel vs. 5252 Aluminum
ASTM A36 carbon steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 5252 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. 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 ASTM A36 carbon steel and the bottom bar is 5252 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 140 | |
| 68 to 75 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 68 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 22 | |
| 4.5 to 11 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 200 | |
| 100 to 110 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.33 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 25 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 300 | |
| 140 to 160 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 480 | |
| 230 to 290 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 290 | |
| 170 to 240 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 400 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 400 | |
| 180 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1460 | |
| 650 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1420 | |
| 610 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 910 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 50 | |
| 140 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 11 | |
| 24 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 12 | |
| 34 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 14 | |
| 120 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 1.8 | |
| 9.5 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.9 | |
| 2.7 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 1.4 | |
| 8.7 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 18 | |
| 160 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 44 | |
| 1190 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 92 | |
| 12 to 23 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 220 | |
| 210 to 430 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 51 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 17 | |
| 23 to 30 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 17 | |
| 31 to 36 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 14 | |
| 57 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 16 | |
| 10 to 13 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 0 | |
| 96.6 to 97.8 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 to 0.26 | |
| 0 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 99.25 to 100 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 2.2 to 2.8 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.040 | |
| 0 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.4 | |
| 0 to 0.080 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.050 | |
| 0 |
| Vanadium (V), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.050 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.050 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |