SAE-AISI 5160 Steel vs. 5040 Aluminum
SAE-AISI 5160 steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 5040 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 5160 steel and the bottom bar is 5040 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 200 to 340 | |
| 66 to 74 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 70 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 12 to 18 | |
| 5.7 to 6.8 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 180 to 650 | |
| 100 to 130 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.33 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 26 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 390 to 700 | |
| 140 to 150 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 660 to 1150 | |
| 240 to 260 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 280 to 1010 | |
| 190 to 230 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 400 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 420 | |
| 190 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1450 | |
| 650 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1410 | |
| 600 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 900 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 43 | |
| 160 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 13 | |
| 23 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 7.2 | |
| 41 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 8.3 | |
| 130 |
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 | |
| 8.3 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 19 | |
| 150 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 50 | |
| 1180 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 73 to 160 | |
| 14 to 15 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 200 to 2700 | |
| 260 to 380 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 50 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 23 to 41 | |
| 24 to 26 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 22 to 31 | |
| 31 to 32 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 12 | |
| 64 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 19 to 34 | |
| 10 to 11 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 0 | |
| 95.2 to 98 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0.56 to 0.61 | |
| 0 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0.7 to 0.9 | |
| 0.1 to 0.3 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 97.1 to 97.8 | |
| 0 to 0.7 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 1.0 to 1.5 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.75 to 1.0 | |
| 0.9 to 1.4 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.035 | |
| 0 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0.15 to 0.35 | |
| 0 to 0.3 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.040 | |
| 0 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.15 |