Nuclear Grade Hafnium vs. WE43A Magnesium
Nuclear grade hafnium belongs to the otherwise unclassified metals classification, while WE43A magnesium belongs to the magnesium alloys. There are 17 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (14, 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 nuclear grade hafnium and the bottom bar is WE43A magnesium.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 78 | |
| 44 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 25 | |
| 5.2 to 5.4 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.26 | |
| 0.29 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 31 | |
| 17 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 350 | |
| 250 to 270 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 170 | |
| 160 to 170 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 130 | |
| 330 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 140 | |
| 960 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 5.9 | |
| 27 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Density, g/cm3 | 13 | |
| 1.9 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 73 | |
| 12 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 180 | |
| 280 to 310 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 3.3 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 11 | |
| 61 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 7.4 | |
| 36 to 39 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 8.4 | |
| 46 to 48 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 55 | |
| 15 to 16 |
Alloy Composition
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Hafnium (Hf), % | 99.8 to 100 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.010 |
| Lithium (Li), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.2 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 89.5 to 93.5 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.15 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.0050 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.010 |
| Unspecified Rare Earths, % | 0 | |
| 2.4 to 4.4 |
| Yttrium (Y), % | 0 | |
| 3.7 to 4.3 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.2 |
| Zirconium (Zr), % | 0 | |
| 0.4 to 1.0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.3 |