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S21904 Stainless Steel vs. 4032 Aluminum

S21904 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 4032 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. There are 31 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 S21904 stainless steel and the bottom bar is 4032 aluminum.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Brinell Hardness 210 to 300
120
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 200
73
Elongation at Break, % 17 to 51
6.7
Fatigue Strength, MPa 380 to 550
110
Poisson's Ratio 0.28
0.33
Shear Modulus, GPa 78
28
Shear Strength, MPa 510 to 620
260
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 700 to 1000
390
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 390 to 910
320

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g 290
570
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 980
180
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C 1400
570
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 1350
530
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 480
900
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 14
140
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 17
19

Electrical Properties

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS 2.5
34
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS 2.9
120

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price, % relative 15
10
Density, g/cm3 7.7
2.6
Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material 3.0
7.8
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg 43
140
Embodied Water, L/kg 160
1030

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 160 to 310
25
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 380 to 2070
700
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 14
15
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 25
53
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 25 to 36
41
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 23 to 29
45
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 3.8
59
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 15 to 21
20

Alloy Composition

Aluminum (Al), % 0
81.1 to 87.2
Carbon (C), % 0 to 0.040
0
Chromium (Cr), % 19 to 21.5
0 to 0.1
Copper (Cu), % 0
0.5 to 1.3
Iron (Fe), % 59.5 to 67.4
0 to 1.0
Magnesium (Mg), % 0
0.8 to 1.3
Manganese (Mn), % 8.0 to 10
0
Nickel (Ni), % 5.5 to 7.5
0.5 to 1.3
Nitrogen (N), % 0.15 to 0.4
0
Phosphorus (P), % 0 to 0.045
0
Silicon (Si), % 0 to 1.0
11 to 13.5
Sulfur (S), % 0 to 0.030
0
Zinc (Zn), % 0
0 to 0.25
Residuals, % 0
0 to 0.15