Commercially Pure Zirconium vs. 5059 Aluminum
Commercially pure zirconium belongs to the otherwise unclassified metals classification, while 5059 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. There are 21 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (10, 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 commercially pure zirconium and the bottom bar is 5059 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 98 | |
| 69 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 18 | |
| 11 to 25 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 60 | |
| 170 to 240 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.34 | |
| 0.33 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 36 | |
| 26 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 430 | |
| 350 to 410 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 240 | |
| 170 to 300 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 390 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 270 | |
| 900 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 22 | |
| 110 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 5.5 | |
| 24 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 6.7 | |
| 2.7 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 450 | |
| 1160 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 65 | |
| 42 to 75 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 290 | |
| 220 to 650 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 8.1 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 23 | |
| 50 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 18 | |
| 36 to 42 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 19 | |
| 41 to 45 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 12 | |
| 44 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 56 | |
| 16 to 18 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 0 | |
| 89.9 to 94 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 to 0.050 | |
| 0 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 to 0.2 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Hafnium (Hf), % | 0 to 4.5 | |
| 0 |
| Hydrogen (H), % | 0 to 0.0050 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.2 | |
| 0 to 0.5 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 5.0 to 6.0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0 | |
| 0.6 to 1.2 |
| Nitrogen (N), % | 0 to 0.025 | |
| 0 |
| Oxygen (O), % | 0 to 0.16 | |
| 0 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.45 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.2 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0.4 to 0.9 |
| Zirconium (Zr), % | 94.7 to 100 | |
| 0.050 to 0.25 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.15 |