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S21904 Stainless Steel vs. 6008 Aluminum

S21904 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 6008 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. There are 30 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (3, 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 6008 aluminum.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 200
69
Elongation at Break, % 17 to 51
9.1 to 17
Fatigue Strength, MPa 380 to 550
55 to 88
Poisson's Ratio 0.28
0.33
Shear Modulus, GPa 78
26
Shear Strength, MPa 510 to 620
120 to 170
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 700 to 1000
200 to 290
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 390 to 910
100 to 220

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g 290
410
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 980
180
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C 1400
640
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 1350
620
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 480
900
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 14
190
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 17
23

Electrical Properties

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS 2.5
49
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS 2.9
160

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
8.5
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg 43
160
Embodied Water, L/kg 160
1180

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 160 to 310
24 to 28
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 380 to 2070
76 to 360
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 14
14
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 25
50
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 25 to 36
21 to 29
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 23 to 29
28 to 35
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 3.8
77
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 15 to 21
9.0 to 13

Alloy Composition

Aluminum (Al), % 0
96.5 to 99.1
Carbon (C), % 0 to 0.040
0
Chromium (Cr), % 19 to 21.5
0 to 0.3
Copper (Cu), % 0
0 to 0.3
Iron (Fe), % 59.5 to 67.4
0 to 0.35
Magnesium (Mg), % 0
0.4 to 0.7
Manganese (Mn), % 8.0 to 10
0 to 0.3
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
0.5 to 0.9
Sulfur (S), % 0 to 0.030
0
Titanium (Ti), % 0
0 to 0.1
Vanadium (V), % 0
0.050 to 0.2
Zinc (Zn), % 0
0 to 0.2
Residuals, % 0
0 to 0.15