SAE-AISI 1046 Steel vs. AISI 304 Stainless Steel
Both SAE-AISI 1046 steel and AISI 304 stainless steel are iron alloys. They have 71% of their average alloy composition in common. There are 31 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (4, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is SAE-AISI 1046 steel and the bottom bar is AISI 304 stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 190 to 210 | |
| 170 to 360 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 14 to 17 | |
| 8.0 to 43 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 240 to 390 | |
| 210 to 440 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 72 | |
| 77 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 410 to 450 | |
| 400 to 690 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 660 to 740 | |
| 580 to 1180 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 370 to 610 | |
| 230 to 860 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 290 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 400 | |
| 710 |
| 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 | 11 | |
| 17 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 11 | |
| 2.4 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 12 | |
| 2.7 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 1.8 | |
| 15 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.8 | |
| 7.8 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 1.4 | |
| 3.0 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 18 | |
| 43 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 46 | |
| 150 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 91 to 95 | |
| 86 to 250 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 360 to 990 | |
| 140 to 1870 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 23 to 26 | |
| 21 to 42 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 22 to 23 | |
| 20 to 32 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 14 | |
| 4.2 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 23 to 25 | |
| 12 to 25 |
Alloy Composition
| Carbon (C), % | 0.43 to 0.5 | |
| 0 to 0.080 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 | |
| 18 to 20 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 98.4 to 98.9 | |
| 66.5 to 74 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.7 to 1.0 | |
| 0 to 2.0 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 8.0 to 10.5 |
| 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 |