WE54A Magnesium vs. EN 1.4482 Stainless Steel
WE54A magnesium belongs to the magnesium alloys classification, while EN 1.4482 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 30 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (4, 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 WE54A magnesium and the bottom bar is EN 1.4482 stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 44 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 4.3 to 5.6 | |
| 34 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 98 to 130 | |
| 420 to 450 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 17 | |
| 78 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 150 to 170 | |
| 510 to 530 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 270 to 300 | |
| 770 to 800 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 180 | |
| 530 to 570 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 330 | |
| 290 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 170 | |
| 980 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 640 | |
| 1420 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 570 | |
| 1370 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 960 | |
| 480 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 52 | |
| 15 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 25 | |
| 13 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 10 | |
| 2.2 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 47 | |
| 2.6 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 34 | |
| 12 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 1.9 | |
| 7.7 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 29 | |
| 2.7 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 260 | |
| 38 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 900 | |
| 150 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 10 to 14 | |
| 230 to 250 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 360 to 380 | |
| 690 to 820 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 62 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 39 to 43 | |
| 28 to 29 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 49 to 51 | |
| 24 to 25 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 28 | |
| 4.0 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 18 to 19 | |
| 21 to 22 |
Alloy Composition
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 | |
| 19.5 to 21.5 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 0 to 1.0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.010 | |
| 66.1 to 74.9 |
| Lithium (Li), % | 0 to 0.2 | |
| 0 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 88.7 to 93.4 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 4.0 to 6.0 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0 | |
| 0.1 to 0.6 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 to 0.0050 | |
| 1.5 to 3.5 |
| Nitrogen (N), % | 0 | |
| 0.050 to 0.2 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.035 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.010 | |
| 0 to 1.0 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Unspecified Rare Earths, % | 1.5 to 4.0 | |
| 0 |
| Yttrium (Y), % | 4.8 to 5.5 | |
| 0 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.2 | |
| 0 |
| Zirconium (Zr), % | 0.4 to 1.0 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.3 | |
| 0 |