ASTM A514 Steel vs. 7020 Aluminum
ASTM A514 steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 7020 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 A514 steel and the bottom bar is 7020 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 240 to 250 | |
| 45 to 100 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 70 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 18 to 21 | |
| 8.4 to 14 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 470 to 540 | |
| 110 to 130 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.33 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 26 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 490 to 520 | |
| 110 to 230 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 790 to 830 | |
| 190 to 390 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 690 to 770 | |
| 120 to 310 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 to 260 | |
| 380 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 400 to 440 | |
| 210 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1460 | |
| 650 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1420 | |
| 610 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 880 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 37 to 51 | |
| 150 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 13 | |
| 23 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 7.2 to 7.6 | |
| 39 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 8.3 to 8.8 | |
| 120 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 2.3 to 3.8 | |
| 9.5 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.8 to 7.9 | |
| 2.9 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 1.6 to 1.8 | |
| 8.3 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 21 to 25 | |
| 150 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 48 to 57 | |
| 1150 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 140 to 170 | |
| 23 to 46 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 1280 to 1590 | |
| 110 to 690 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 47 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 28 to 29 | |
| 18 to 37 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 24 to 25 | |
| 25 to 41 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 10 to 14 | |
| 59 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 23 to 24 | |
| 8.3 to 17 |