2018 Aluminum vs. Austenitic Nodular Cast Iron
2018 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while austenitic nodular cast iron belongs to the iron alloys. There are 24 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (7, 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 2018 aluminum and the bottom bar is austenitic nodular cast iron.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 120 | |
| 140 to 240 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 180 to 190 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 9.6 | |
| 6.8 to 34 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.29 to 0.3 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 27 | |
| 70 to 72 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 420 | |
| 430 to 500 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 310 | |
| 190 to 240 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 390 | |
| 280 to 350 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 640 | |
| 1340 to 1400 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 510 | |
| 1300 to 1360 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 870 | |
| 470 to 490 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 22 | |
| 13 to 14 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 11 | |
| 16 to 25 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 3.1 | |
| 7.7 to 8.0 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 8.1 | |
| 3.5 to 4.9 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 48 to 68 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1130 | |
| 91 to 120 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 37 | |
| 24 to 140 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 670 | |
| 98 to 160 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 45 | |
| 24 to 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 38 | |
| 15 to 18 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 41 | |
| 16 to 18 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 19 | |
| 12 to 15 |