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3003 Aluminum vs. S45500 Stainless Steel

3003 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while S45500 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 26 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (10, 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 3003 aluminum and the bottom bar is S45500 stainless steel.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Brinell Hardness 28 to 65
280 to 500
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 70
190
Elongation at Break, % 1.1 to 28
3.4 to 11
Fatigue Strength, MPa 39 to 90
570 to 890
Poisson's Ratio 0.33
0.28
Shear Modulus, GPa 26
75
Shear Strength, MPa 68 to 130
790 to 1090
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 110 to 240
1370 to 1850
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 40 to 210
1240 to 1700

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g 400
270
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 180
760
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C 650
1440
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 640
1400
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 900
470
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 23
11

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price, % relative 9.5
17
Density, g/cm3 2.8
7.9
Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material 8.1
3.8
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg 150
57
Embodied Water, L/kg 1180
120

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 0.95 to 63
45 to 190
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 14
14
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 50
24
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 11 to 24
48 to 65
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 18 to 30
35 to 42
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 4.7 to 10
48 to 64

Alloy Composition

Aluminum (Al), % 96.8 to 99
0
Carbon (C), % 0
0 to 0.050
Chromium (Cr), % 0
11 to 12.5
Copper (Cu), % 0.050 to 0.2
1.5 to 2.5
Iron (Fe), % 0 to 0.7
71.5 to 79.2
Manganese (Mn), % 1.0 to 1.5
0 to 0.5
Molybdenum (Mo), % 0
0 to 0.5
Nickel (Ni), % 0
7.5 to 9.5
Niobium (Nb), % 0
0 to 0.5
Phosphorus (P), % 0
0 to 0.040
Silicon (Si), % 0 to 0.6
0 to 0.5
Sulfur (S), % 0
0 to 0.030
Tantalum (Ta), % 0
0 to 0.5
Titanium (Ti), % 0
0.8 to 1.4
Zinc (Zn), % 0 to 0.1
0
Residuals, % 0 to 0.15
0

Comparable Variants