EN 1.7231 Steel vs. 2218 Aluminum
EN 1.7231 steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 2218 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. There are 30 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (2, 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 1.7231 steel and the bottom bar is 2218 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 240 to 280 | |
| 95 to 110 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 73 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 11 to 12 | |
| 6.8 to 10 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 360 to 500 | |
| 110 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.33 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 27 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 790 to 930 | |
| 330 to 430 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 570 to 800 | |
| 260 to 310 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 390 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 420 | |
| 220 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1460 | |
| 640 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1420 | |
| 510 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 870 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 46 | |
| 140 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 13 | |
| 22 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 7.3 | |
| 37 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 8.4 | |
| 110 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 2.5 | |
| 11 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.8 | |
| 3.1 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 1.5 | |
| 8.2 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 20 | |
| 150 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 51 | |
| 1130 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 87 to 100 | |
| 27 to 31 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 870 to 1700 | |
| 450 to 650 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 45 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 28 to 33 | |
| 30 to 39 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 24 to 27 | |
| 34 to 41 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 12 | |
| 52 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 23 to 27 | |
| 15 to 19 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 0 | |
| 88.8 to 93.6 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0.38 to 0.45 | |
| 0 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0.8 to 1.2 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
| 3.5 to 4.5 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 96.4 to 98.1 | |
| 0 to 1.0 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 1.2 to 1.8 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.6 to 1.0 | |
| 0 to 0.2 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0.15 to 0.3 | |
| 0 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 1.7 to 2.3 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.025 | |
| 0 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.6 | |
| 0 to 0.9 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 0 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.15 |