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5051A Aluminum vs. S82012 Stainless Steel

5051A aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while S82012 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 5051A aluminum and the bottom bar is S82012 stainless steel.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 68
200
Elongation at Break, % 18 to 21
40
Fatigue Strength, MPa 51 to 61
480
Poisson's Ratio 0.33
0.28
Shear Modulus, GPa 26
78
Shear Strength, MPa 110
550
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 170
800
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 56
560

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g 400
280
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 190
950
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C 640
1430
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 610
1380
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 900
480
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 150
15
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 23
13

Electrical Properties

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS 39
2.2
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS 130
2.5

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price, % relative 9.5
11
Density, g/cm3 2.7
7.7
Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material 8.5
2.4
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg 150
35
Embodied Water, L/kg 1190
140

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 24 to 27
290
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 23
790
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 14
14
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 50
25
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 17 to 18
29
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 25
25
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 63
3.9
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 7.6
23

Alloy Composition

Aluminum (Al), % 96.1 to 98.6
0
Carbon (C), % 0
0 to 0.050
Chromium (Cr), % 0 to 0.3
19 to 20.5
Copper (Cu), % 0 to 0.050
0 to 1.0
Iron (Fe), % 0 to 0.45
71.3 to 77.9
Magnesium (Mg), % 1.4 to 2.1
0
Manganese (Mn), % 0 to 0.25
2.0 to 4.0
Molybdenum (Mo), % 0
0.1 to 0.6
Nickel (Ni), % 0
0.8 to 1.5
Nitrogen (N), % 0
0.16 to 0.26
Phosphorus (P), % 0
0 to 0.040
Silicon (Si), % 0 to 0.3
0 to 0.8
Sulfur (S), % 0
0 to 0.0050
Titanium (Ti), % 0 to 0.1
0
Zinc (Zn), % 0 to 0.2
0
Residuals, % 0 to 0.15
0