SAE-AISI 4340 Steel vs. AISI 304L Stainless Steel
Both SAE-AISI 4340 steel and AISI 304L stainless steel are iron alloys. They have 73% 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 4340 steel and the bottom bar is AISI 304L stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 210 to 360 | |
| 160 to 350 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 12 to 22 | |
| 6.7 to 46 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 330 to 740 | |
| 170 to 430 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 77 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 430 to 770 | |
| 370 to 680 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 690 to 1280 | |
| 540 to 1160 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 470 to 1150 | |
| 190 to 870 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 290 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 430 | |
| 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 | 44 | |
| 16 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 13 | |
| 17 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 7.5 | |
| 2.4 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 8.6 | |
| 2.7 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 3.5 | |
| 16 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.8 | |
| 7.8 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 1.7 | |
| 3.1 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 22 | |
| 44 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 53 | |
| 150 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 79 to 170 | |
| 71 to 240 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 590 to 3490 | |
| 92 to 1900 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 24 to 45 | |
| 19 to 41 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 22 to 33 | |
| 19 to 31 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 12 | |
| 4.2 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 20 to 38 | |
| 12 to 25 |
Alloy Composition
| Carbon (C), % | 0.38 to 0.43 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0.7 to 0.9 | |
| 18 to 20 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 95.1 to 96.3 | |
| 65 to 74 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.6 to 0.8 | |
| 0 to 2.0 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0.2 to 0.3 | |
| 0 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 1.7 to 2.0 | |
| 8.0 to 12 |
| Nitrogen (N), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.035 | |
| 0 to 0.045 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0.15 to 0.35 | |
| 0 to 0.75 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.040 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |