EN 1.3538 Steel vs. EN-MC21120 Magnesium
EN 1.3538 steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while EN-MC21120 magnesium belongs to the magnesium alloys. There are 25 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (7, 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 EN 1.3538 steel and the bottom bar is EN-MC21120 magnesium.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 200 to 220 | |
| 63 to 75 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 46 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.29 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 18 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 670 to 740 | |
| 200 to 270 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 350 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 440 | |
| 130 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1450 | |
| 600 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1410 | |
| 490 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 990 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 41 | |
| 76 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 13 | |
| 26 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 7.4 | |
| 11 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 8.5 | |
| 59 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 3.0 | |
| 12 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.8 | |
| 1.7 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 1.6 | |
| 22 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 21 | |
| 160 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 56 | |
| 990 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 15 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 69 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 24 to 26 | |
| 31 to 43 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 22 to 23 | |
| 43 to 53 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 11 | |
| 44 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 20 to 22 | |
| 11 to 16 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 0 to 0.050 | |
| 8.3 to 9.7 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0.93 to 1.1 | |
| 0 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 1.7 to 2.0 | |
| 0 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.3 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 96 to 97.2 | |
| 0 to 0.0050 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 88.6 to 91.3 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.6 to 0.8 | |
| 0.1 to 0.5 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0.4 to 0.5 | |
| 0 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.0020 |
| Oxygen (O), % | 0 to 0.0015 | |
| 0 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.025 | |
| 0 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0.15 to 0.35 | |
| 0 to 0.2 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 0 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0.35 to 1.0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.010 |