SAE-AISI 5140 Steel vs. AISI 304L Stainless Steel
Both SAE-AISI 5140 steel and AISI 304L 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 5140 steel and the bottom bar is AISI 304L stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 170 to 290 | |
| 160 to 350 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 12 to 29 | |
| 6.7 to 46 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 220 to 570 | |
| 170 to 430 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 77 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 360 to 600 | |
| 370 to 680 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 560 to 970 | |
| 540 to 1160 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 290 to 840 | |
| 190 to 870 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 290 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 420 | |
| 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 | 45 | |
| 16 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 13 | |
| 17 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 7.2 | |
| 2.4 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 8.3 | |
| 2.7 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 2.1 | |
| 16 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.8 | |
| 7.8 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 1.4 | |
| 3.1 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 19 | |
| 44 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 49 | |
| 150 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 76 to 180 | |
| 71 to 240 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 220 to 1880 | |
| 92 to 1900 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 20 to 34 | |
| 19 to 41 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 19 to 28 | |
| 19 to 31 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 12 | |
| 4.2 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 16 to 29 | |
| 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), % | 97.3 to 98.1 | |
| 65 to 74 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.7 to 0.9 | |
| 0 to 2.0 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 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 |