SAE-AISI 1040 Steel vs. 5456 Aluminum
SAE-AISI 1040 steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 5456 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. There are 30 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (3, 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 SAE-AISI 1040 steel and the bottom bar is 5456 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 68 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 13 to 20 | |
| 11 to 18 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 220 to 340 | |
| 130 to 210 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.33 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 26 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 350 to 390 | |
| 190 to 210 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 570 to 640 | |
| 320 to 340 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 320 to 530 | |
| 150 to 250 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 390 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 400 | |
| 190 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1460 | |
| 640 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1420 | |
| 570 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 900 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 51 | |
| 120 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 12 | |
| 24 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 7.0 | |
| 29 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 8.0 | |
| 97 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 1.8 | |
| 9.5 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.8 | |
| 2.7 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 1.4 | |
| 9.0 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 18 | |
| 150 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 46 | |
| 1170 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 79 to 96 | |
| 33 to 46 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 270 to 760 | |
| 170 to 470 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 50 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 20 to 23 | |
| 33 to 35 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 19 to 21 | |
| 38 to 40 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 14 | |
| 48 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 18 to 20 | |
| 14 to 15 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 0 | |
| 92 to 94.8 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0.37 to 0.44 | |
| 0 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 | |
| 0.050 to 0.2 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 98.6 to 99.03 | |
| 0 to 0.4 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 4.7 to 5.5 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.6 to 0.9 | |
| 0.5 to 1.0 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.040 | |
| 0 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.050 | |
| 0 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.2 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.15 |