EN 1.6587 Steel vs. 5652 Aluminum
EN 1.6587 steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 5652 aluminum belongs to the aluminum 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 1.6587 steel and the bottom bar is 5652 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
Brinell Hardness | 160 to 220 | |
47 to 77 |
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
68 |
Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
0.33 |
Shear Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
26 |
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 520 to 1420 | |
190 to 290 |
Thermal Properties
Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
400 |
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 440 | |
190 |
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1460 | |
650 |
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1420 | |
610 |
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
900 |
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 41 | |
140 |
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 13 | |
24 |
Electrical Properties
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 7.6 | |
35 |
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 8.8 | |
120 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
Base Metal Price, % relative | 3.8 | |
9.5 |
Density, g/cm3 | 7.9 | |
2.7 |
Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 1.7 | |
8.6 |
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 22 | |
150 |
Embodied Water, L/kg | 58 | |
1190 |
Common Calculations
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
14 |
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
51 |
Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 18 to 50 | |
20 to 30 |
Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 18 to 36 | |
27 to 36 |
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 11 | |
57 |
Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 15 to 42 | |
8.4 to 13 |
Alloy Composition
Aluminum (Al), % | 0 to 0.050 | |
95.8 to 97.7 |
Carbon (C), % | 0.15 to 0.21 | |
0 |
Chromium (Cr), % | 1.5 to 1.8 | |
0.15 to 0.35 |
Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.3 | |
0 to 0.040 |
Iron (Fe), % | 94.4 to 96.4 | |
0 to 0.4 |
Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
2.2 to 2.8 |
Manganese (Mn), % | 0.5 to 0.9 | |
0 to 0.010 |
Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0.25 to 0.35 | |
0 |
Nickel (Ni), % | 1.4 to 1.7 | |
0 |
Oxygen (O), % | 0 to 0.0020 | |
0 |
Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.025 | |
0 |
Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.4 | |
0 to 0.4 |
Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
0 |
Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
0 to 0.1 |
Residuals, % | 0 | |
0 to 0.15 |