SAE-AISI M6 Steel vs. 6101 Aluminum
SAE-AISI M6 steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 6101 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. There are 17 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (9, 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 M6 steel and the bottom bar is 6101 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 200 | |
| 68 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.33 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 77 | |
| 26 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 260 | |
| 400 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1560 | |
| 650 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1510 | |
| 620 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 440 | |
| 900 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 17 | |
| 220 to 230 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 12 | |
| 23 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 39 | |
| 9.5 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 8.4 | |
| 2.7 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.0 | |
| 8.3 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 120 | |
| 150 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 160 | |
| 1190 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 23 | |
| 50 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 4.7 | |
| 89 to 93 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 0 | |
| 97.6 to 99.4 |
| Boron (B), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.060 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0.75 to 0.85 | |
| 0 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 3.8 to 4.5 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Cobalt (Co), % | 11 to 13 | |
| 0 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 68.8 to 74.6 | |
| 0 to 0.5 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 0.35 to 0.8 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.15 to 0.4 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 4.5 to 5.5 | |
| 0 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 0 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0.2 to 0.45 | |
| 0.3 to 0.7 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 0 |
| Tungsten (W), % | 3.8 to 4.8 | |
| 0 |
| Vanadium (V), % | 1.3 to 1.7 | |
| 0 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.1 |