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SAE-AISI 5140 Steel vs. 3103 Aluminum

SAE-AISI 5140 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 5140 steel and the bottom bar is 3103 aluminum.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Brinell Hardness 170 to 290
27 to 62
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 190
70
Elongation at Break, % 12 to 29
1.1 to 28
Fatigue Strength, MPa 220 to 570
38 to 83
Poisson's Ratio 0.29
0.33
Shear Modulus, GPa 73
26
Shear Strength, MPa 360 to 600
68 to 130
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 560 to 970
100 to 220
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 290 to 840
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 13
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 2.1
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 49
1180

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 76 to 180
2.4 to 24
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 220 to 1880
11 to 280
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 13
14
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 24
50
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 20 to 34
10 to 22
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 19 to 28
18 to 30
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 12
64
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 16 to 29
4.6 to 9.9

Alloy Composition

Aluminum (Al), % 0
96.3 to 99.1
Carbon (C), % 0.38 to 0.43
0
Chromium (Cr), % 0.7 to 0.9
0 to 0.1
Copper (Cu), % 0
0 to 0.1
Iron (Fe), % 97.3 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

Comparable Variants