SAE-AISI 1040 Steel vs. AISI 304L Stainless Steel
Both SAE-AISI 1040 steel and AISI 304L stainless steel are iron alloys. They have 70% of their average alloy composition in common. There are 31 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (5, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is SAE-AISI 1040 steel and the bottom bar is AISI 304L stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 160 to 180 | |
| 160 to 350 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 13 to 20 | |
| 6.7 to 46 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 220 to 340 | |
| 170 to 430 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 77 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 350 to 390 | |
| 370 to 680 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 570 to 640 | |
| 540 to 1160 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 320 to 530 | |
| 190 to 870 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 290 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 400 | |
| 540 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1460 | |
| 1450 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1420 | |
| 1400 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 480 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 51 | |
| 16 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 12 | |
| 17 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 7.0 | |
| 2.4 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 8.0 | |
| 2.7 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 1.8 | |
| 16 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.8 | |
| 7.8 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 1.4 | |
| 3.1 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 18 | |
| 44 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 46 | |
| 150 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 79 to 96 | |
| 71 to 240 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 270 to 760 | |
| 92 to 1900 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 20 to 23 | |
| 19 to 41 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 19 to 21 | |
| 19 to 31 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 14 | |
| 4.2 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 18 to 20 | |
| 12 to 25 |
Alloy Composition
| Carbon (C), % | 0.37 to 0.44 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 | |
| 18 to 20 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 98.6 to 99.03 | |
| 65 to 74 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.6 to 0.9 | |
| 0 to 2.0 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 8.0 to 12 |
| Nitrogen (N), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.040 | |
| 0 to 0.045 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.75 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.050 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |