S21904 Stainless Steel vs. 5059 Aluminum
S21904 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 5059 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 5059 aluminum.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 200 | |
| 69 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 17 to 51 | |
| 11 to 25 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 380 to 550 | |
| 170 to 240 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.28 | |
| 0.33 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 78 | |
| 26 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 510 to 620 | |
| 220 to 250 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 700 to 1000 | |
| 350 to 410 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 390 to 910 | |
| 170 to 300 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 290 | |
| 390 |
| Maximum Temperature: Corrosion, °C | 430 | |
| 65 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 980 | |
| 210 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1400 | |
| 650 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1350 | |
| 510 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 480 | |
| 900 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 14 | |
| 110 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 17 | |
| 24 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 2.5 | |
| 29 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 2.9 | |
| 95 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 15 | |
| 9.5 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.7 | |
| 2.7 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 3.0 | |
| 9.1 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 43 | |
| 160 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 160 | |
| 1160 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 160 to 310 | |
| 42 to 75 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 380 to 2070 | |
| 220 to 650 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 25 | |
| 50 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 25 to 36 | |
| 36 to 42 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 23 to 29 | |
| 41 to 45 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 3.8 | |
| 44 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 15 to 21 | |
| 16 to 18 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 0 | |
| 89.9 to 94 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 to 0.040 | |
| 0 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 19 to 21.5 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 59.5 to 67.4 | |
| 0 to 0.5 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 5.0 to 6.0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 8.0 to 10 | |
| 0.6 to 1.2 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 5.5 to 7.5 | |
| 0 |
| Nitrogen (N), % | 0.15 to 0.4 | |
| 0 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.045 | |
| 0 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 1.0 | |
| 0 to 0.45 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 0 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.2 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0.4 to 0.9 |
| Zirconium (Zr), % | 0 | |
| 0.050 to 0.25 |
| Residuals, % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.15 |