SAE-AISI 5130 Steel vs. 3103 Aluminum
SAE-AISI 5130 steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 3103 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. 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 5130 steel and the bottom bar is 3103 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 150 to 190 | |
| 27 to 62 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 70 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 12 to 22 | |
| 1.1 to 28 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 230 to 330 | |
| 38 to 83 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.33 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 26 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 310 to 390 | |
| 68 to 130 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 500 to 640 | |
| 100 to 220 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 330 to 530 | |
| 39 to 200 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 400 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 420 | |
| 190 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1460 | |
| 660 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1420 | |
| 640 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 900 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 45 | |
| 160 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 12 | |
| 23 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 7.2 | |
| 42 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 8.3 | |
| 140 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 2.2 | |
| 9.5 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.8 | |
| 2.8 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 1.4 | |
| 8.2 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 19 | |
| 150 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 50 | |
| 1180 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 74 to 98 | |
| 2.4 to 24 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 290 to 750 | |
| 11 to 280 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 50 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 18 to 23 | |
| 10 to 22 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 18 to 21 | |
| 18 to 30 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 12 | |
| 64 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 16 to 20 | |
| 4.6 to 9.9 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 0 | |
| 96.3 to 99.1 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0.28 to 0.33 | |
| 0 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0.8 to 1.1 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 97.2 to 98.1 | |
| 0 to 0.7 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.3 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.7 to 0.9 | |
| 0.9 to 1.5 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.035 | |
| 0 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0.15 to 0.35 | |
| 0 to 0.5 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.040 | |
| 0 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.2 |
| Zirconium (Zr), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.15 |