MakeItFrom.com
Menu (ESC)

ABS vs. 5251 Aluminum

ABS and 5251 aluminum belong to fundamentally different material chemistries. ABS is a polymeric material, while 5251 aluminum is a metal. Therefore, their performance will be even more dissimilar than would be suggested by the difference in properties. There are 10 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (29, 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 ABS and the bottom bar is 5251 aluminum.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Material Properties

Density, g/cm3 1.0 to 1.4
2.7
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 2.0 to 2.6
68
Elongation at Break, % 3.5 to 50
2.0 to 19
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 0.79 to 1.4
14
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 30 to 44
50
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 10 to 22
18 to 29
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 24 to 37
26 to 35
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 37 to 110
180 to 280
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 81 to 95
24
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 11 to 50
7.9 to 13