SAE-AISI L6 Steel vs. S46500 Stainless Steel
Both SAE-AISI L6 steel and S46500 stainless steel are iron alloys. They have 77% of their average alloy composition in common. There are 19 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (13, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is SAE-AISI L6 steel and the bottom bar is S46500 stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 190 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 72 | |
| 75 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 670 to 2090 | |
| 1260 to 1930 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 280 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1450 | |
| 1450 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1410 | |
| 1410 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 470 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 11 | |
| 11 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 3.6 | |
| 15 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.8 | |
| 7.9 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 2.0 | |
| 3.6 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 28 | |
| 51 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 54 | |
| 120 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 24 to 74 | |
| 44 to 68 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 22 to 46 | |
| 33 to 44 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 22 to 70 | |
| 44 to 67 |
Alloy Composition
| Carbon (C), % | 0.65 to 0.75 | |
| 0 to 0.020 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0.6 to 1.2 | |
| 11 to 12.5 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 93.6 to 97.3 | |
| 72.6 to 76.1 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.25 to 0.8 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0 to 0.5 | |
| 0.75 to 1.3 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 1.3 to 2.0 | |
| 10.7 to 11.3 |
| Nitrogen (N), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.010 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 0 to 0.015 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.5 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 0 to 0.010 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 | |
| 1.5 to 1.8 |
| Vanadium (V), % | 0 to 0.3 | |
| 0 |