EN 1.1221 Steel vs. 2117 Aluminum
EN 1.1221 steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 2117 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 EN 1.1221 steel and the bottom bar is 2117 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 210 to 250 | |
| 70 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 71 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 10 to 21 | |
| 26 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 240 to 340 | |
| 95 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.33 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 72 | |
| 27 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 450 to 520 | |
| 200 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 730 to 870 | |
| 300 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 390 to 550 | |
| 170 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 400 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 400 | |
| 220 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1460 | |
| 650 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1410 | |
| 550 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 880 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 48 | |
| 150 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 12 | |
| 24 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 7.2 | |
| 40 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 8.3 | |
| 120 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 2.1 | |
| 10 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.8 | |
| 3.0 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 1.5 | |
| 8.2 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 19 | |
| 150 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 47 | |
| 1150 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 67 to 130 | |
| 64 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 410 to 800 | |
| 190 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 47 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 26 to 31 | |
| 28 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 23 to 26 | |
| 33 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 13 | |
| 59 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 23 to 28 | |
| 12 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 0 | |
| 91 to 97.6 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0.57 to 0.65 | |
| 0 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 to 0.4 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
| 2.2 to 4.5 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 97.1 to 98.8 | |
| 0 to 0.7 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 0.2 to 1.0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.6 to 0.9 | |
| 0.4 to 1.0 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 to 0.4 | |
| 0 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.035 | |
| 0 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.4 | |
| 0.2 to 0.8 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.035 | |
| 0 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Zirconium (Zr), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.15 |