EN AC-21100 Aluminum vs. SAE-AISI 5160 Steel
EN AC-21100 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while SAE-AISI 5160 steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 30 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (1, 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 AC-21100 aluminum and the bottom bar is SAE-AISI 5160 steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 100 to 110 | |
| 200 to 340 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 71 | |
| 190 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 6.2 to 7.3 | |
| 12 to 18 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 79 to 87 | |
| 180 to 650 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.29 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 27 | |
| 73 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 340 to 350 | |
| 660 to 1150 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 210 to 240 | |
| 280 to 1010 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 390 | |
| 250 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 170 | |
| 420 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 670 | |
| 1450 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 550 | |
| 1410 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 880 | |
| 470 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 130 | |
| 43 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 23 | |
| 13 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 34 | |
| 7.2 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 100 | |
| 8.3 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 11 | |
| 2.1 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 3.0 | |
| 7.8 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.0 | |
| 1.4 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 19 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1150 | |
| 50 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 19 to 21 | |
| 73 to 160 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 300 to 400 | |
| 200 to 2700 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 46 | |
| 24 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 31 to 33 | |
| 23 to 41 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 36 to 37 | |
| 22 to 31 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 48 | |
| 12 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 15 | |
| 19 to 34 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 93.4 to 95.7 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0.56 to 0.61 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 | |
| 0.7 to 0.9 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 4.2 to 5.2 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.19 | |
| 97.1 to 97.8 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0 to 0.55 | |
| 0.75 to 1.0 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.035 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.18 | |
| 0.15 to 0.35 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.040 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0.15 to 0.3 | |
| 0 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.070 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |