SAE-AISI 5160 Steel vs. AISI 304 Stainless Steel
Both SAE-AISI 5160 steel and AISI 304 stainless steel are iron alloys. They have 72% of their average alloy composition in common. There are 31 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (3, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is SAE-AISI 5160 steel and the bottom bar is AISI 304 stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 200 to 340 | |
| 170 to 360 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 12 to 18 | |
| 8.0 to 43 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 180 to 650 | |
| 210 to 440 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 77 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 390 to 700 | |
| 400 to 690 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 660 to 1150 | |
| 580 to 1180 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 280 to 1010 | |
| 230 to 860 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 290 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 420 | |
| 710 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1450 | |
| 1450 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1410 | |
| 1400 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 480 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 43 | |
| 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 | |
| 15 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.8 | |
| 7.8 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 1.4 | |
| 3.0 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 19 | |
| 43 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 50 | |
| 150 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 73 to 160 | |
| 86 to 250 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 200 to 2700 | |
| 140 to 1870 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 23 to 41 | |
| 21 to 42 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 22 to 31 | |
| 20 to 32 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 12 | |
| 4.2 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 19 to 34 | |
| 12 to 25 |
Alloy Composition
| Carbon (C), % | 0.56 to 0.61 | |
| 0 to 0.080 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0.7 to 0.9 | |
| 18 to 20 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 97.1 to 97.8 | |
| 66.5 to 74 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.75 to 1.0 | |
| 0 to 2.0 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 8.0 to 10.5 |
| 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 |