SAE-AISI 5160 Steel vs. 6061 Aluminum
SAE-AISI 5160 steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 6061 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. There are 30 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (2, in this case) are not shown. 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 6061 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 69 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 12 to 18 | |
| 3.4 to 20 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 180 to 650 | |
| 58 to 110 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.33 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 26 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 390 to 700 | |
| 84 to 210 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 660 to 1150 | |
| 130 to 410 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 280 to 1010 | |
| 76 to 370 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 400 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 420 | |
| 170 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1450 | |
| 650 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1410 | |
| 580 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 900 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 43 | |
| 170 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 13 | |
| 24 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 7.2 | |
| 43 |
| 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 | |
| 2.7 |
| 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 | |
| 3.8 to 81 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 200 to 2700 | |
| 42 to 1000 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 50 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 23 to 41 | |
| 13 to 42 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 22 to 31 | |
| 21 to 45 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 12 | |
| 68 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 19 to 34 | |
| 5.7 to 18 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 0 | |
| 95.9 to 98.6 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0.56 to 0.61 | |
| 0 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0.7 to 0.9 | |
| 0.040 to 0.35 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
| 0.15 to 0.4 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 97.1 to 97.8 | |
| 0 to 0.7 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 0.8 to 1.2 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.75 to 1.0 | |
| 0 to 0.15 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.035 | |
| 0 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0.15 to 0.35 | |
| 0.4 to 0.8 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.040 | |
| 0 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.15 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.15 |