S20910 Stainless Steel vs. 7178 Aluminum
S20910 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 7178 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. There are 28 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (6, 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 S20910 stainless steel and the bottom bar is 7178 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 200 | |
71 |
Elongation at Break, % | 14 to 39 | |
4.5 to 12 |
Fatigue Strength, MPa | 310 to 460 | |
120 to 210 |
Poisson's Ratio | 0.28 | |
0.32 |
Shear Modulus, GPa | 79 | |
27 |
Shear Strength, MPa | 500 to 570 | |
140 to 380 |
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 780 to 940 | |
240 to 640 |
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 430 to 810 | |
120 to 560 |
Thermal Properties
Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 300 | |
370 |
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 1080 | |
180 |
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1420 | |
630 |
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1380 | |
480 |
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 480 | |
860 |
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 13 | |
130 |
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 16 | |
23 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
Base Metal Price, % relative | 22 | |
10 |
Density, g/cm3 | 7.8 | |
3.1 |
Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 4.8 | |
8.2 |
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 68 | |
150 |
Embodied Water, L/kg | 180 | |
1110 |
Common Calculations
Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 120 to 260 | |
24 to 52 |
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 460 to 1640 | |
110 to 2220 |
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
13 |
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 25 | |
45 |
Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 28 to 33 | |
21 to 58 |
Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 24 to 27 | |
28 to 54 |
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 3.6 | |
47 |
Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 17 to 21 | |
10 to 28 |
Alloy Composition
Aluminum (Al), % | 0 | |
85.4 to 89.5 |
Carbon (C), % | 0 to 0.060 | |
0 |
Chromium (Cr), % | 20.5 to 23.5 | |
0.18 to 0.28 |
Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
1.6 to 2.4 |
Iron (Fe), % | 52.1 to 62.1 | |
0 to 0.5 |
Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
2.4 to 3.1 |
Manganese (Mn), % | 4.0 to 6.0 | |
0 to 0.3 |
Molybdenum (Mo), % | 1.5 to 3.0 | |
0 |
Nickel (Ni), % | 11.5 to 13.5 | |
0 |
Niobium (Nb), % | 0.1 to 0.3 | |
0 |
Nitrogen (N), % | 0.2 to 0.4 | |
0 |
Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.040 | |
0 |
Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.75 | |
0 to 0.4 |
Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
0 |
Titanium (Ti), % | 0 | |
0 to 0.2 |
Vanadium (V), % | 0.1 to 0.3 | |
0 |
Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
6.3 to 7.3 |
Residuals, % | 0 | |
0 to 0.15 |