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SAE-AISI 5140 Steel vs. 5049 Aluminum

SAE-AISI 5140 steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 5049 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 5049 aluminum.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Brinell Hardness 170 to 290
52 to 88
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 190
69
Elongation at Break, % 12 to 29
2.0 to 18
Fatigue Strength, MPa 220 to 570
79 to 130
Poisson's Ratio 0.29
0.33
Shear Modulus, GPa 73
26
Shear Strength, MPa 360 to 600
130 to 190
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 560 to 970
210 to 330
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 290 to 840
91 to 280

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g 250
400
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 420
190
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C 1460
650
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 1420
620
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 470
900
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 45
140
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 13
24

Electrical Properties

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS 7.2
35
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS 8.3
110

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price, % relative 2.1
9.5
Density, g/cm3 7.8
2.7
Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material 1.4
8.5
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg 19
150
Embodied Water, L/kg 49
1180

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 76 to 180
6.0 to 31
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 220 to 1880
59 to 570
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 13
14
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 24
50
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 20 to 34
22 to 34
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 19 to 28
29 to 39
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 12
56
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 16 to 29
9.3 to 15

Alloy Composition

Aluminum (Al), % 0
94.7 to 97.9
Carbon (C), % 0.38 to 0.43
0
Chromium (Cr), % 0.7 to 0.9
0 to 0.3
Copper (Cu), % 0
0 to 0.1
Iron (Fe), % 97.3 to 98.1
0 to 0.5
Magnesium (Mg), % 0
1.6 to 2.5
Manganese (Mn), % 0.7 to 0.9
0.5 to 1.1
Phosphorus (P), % 0 to 0.035
0
Silicon (Si), % 0.15 to 0.35
0 to 0.4
Sulfur (S), % 0 to 0.040
0
Titanium (Ti), % 0
0 to 0.1
Zinc (Zn), % 0
0 to 0.2
Residuals, % 0
0 to 0.15

Comparable Variants