6061 Aluminum vs. EN 1.4606 Stainless Steel
6061 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while EN 1.4606 stainless steel belongs to the iron 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 6061 aluminum and the bottom bar is EN 1.4606 stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 69 | |
| 190 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 3.4 to 20 | |
| 23 to 39 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 58 to 110 | |
| 240 to 420 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.29 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 75 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 84 to 210 | |
| 410 to 640 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 130 to 410 | |
| 600 to 1020 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 76 to 370 | |
| 280 to 630 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 400 | |
| 300 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 170 | |
| 910 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 650 | |
| 1430 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 580 | |
| 1380 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 900 | |
| 470 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 170 | |
| 14 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 24 | |
| 11 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 43 | |
| 1.9 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 140 | |
| 2.2 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 26 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.7 | |
| 7.9 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.3 | |
| 6.0 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 87 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1180 | |
| 170 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 3.8 to 81 | |
| 190 to 200 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 42 to 1000 | |
| 200 to 1010 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 50 | |
| 24 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 13 to 42 | |
| 21 to 36 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 21 to 45 | |
| 20 to 28 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 68 | |
| 3.7 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 5.7 to 18 | |
| 21 to 35 |
Alloy Composition
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| Aluminum (Al), % | 95.9 to 98.6 | |
| 0 to 0.35 |
| Boron (B), % | 0 | |
| 0.0010 to 0.010 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.080 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0.040 to 0.35 | |
| 13 to 16 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0.15 to 0.4 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.7 | |
| 49.2 to 59 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0.8 to 1.2 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 1.0 to 2.0 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0 | |
| 1.0 to 1.5 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 24 to 27 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.025 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0.4 to 0.8 | |
| 0 to 1.0 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.015 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 1.9 to 2.3 |
| Vanadium (V), % | 0 | |
| 0.1 to 0.5 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |