5056 Aluminum vs. SAE-AISI H21 Steel
5056 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while SAE-AISI H21 steel belongs to the iron alloys. There are 21 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (11, 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 5056 aluminum and the bottom bar is SAE-AISI H21 steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 67 | |
| 200 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.29 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 25 | |
| 76 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 290 to 460 | |
| 720 to 1790 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 400 | |
| 250 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 640 | |
| 1630 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 570 | |
| 1580 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 910 | |
| 440 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 130 | |
| 27 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 24 | |
| 11 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 23 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.7 | |
| 8.5 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 9.0 | |
| 4.5 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 68 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1180 | |
| 72 |
Common Calculations
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 51 | |
| 23 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 30 to 48 | |
| 23 to 58 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 36 to 50 | |
| 21 to 38 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 53 | |
| 7.1 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 13 to 20 | |
| 24 to 59 |
Alloy Composition
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| Aluminum (Al), % | 93 to 95.4 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0.28 to 0.36 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0.050 to 0.2 | |
| 3.0 to 3.8 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 to 0.25 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.4 | |
| 87.6 to 93.8 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 4.5 to 5.6 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.050 to 0.2 | |
| 0.15 to 0.4 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.3 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.3 | |
| 0.15 to 0.5 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Tungsten (W), % | 0 | |
| 8.5 to 10 |
| Vanadium (V), % | 0 | |
| 0.3 to 0.6 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |