5456 Aluminum vs. EN 1.4421 Stainless Steel
5456 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys classification, while EN 1.4421 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 5456 aluminum and the bottom bar is EN 1.4421 stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 68 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 11 to 18 | |
| 11 to 17 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 130 to 210 | |
| 380 to 520 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.33 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 26 | |
| 77 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 320 to 340 | |
| 880 to 1100 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 150 to 250 | |
| 620 to 950 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 390 | |
| 280 |
| Maximum Temperature: Corrosion, °C | 65 | |
| 410 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 190 | |
| 870 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 640 | |
| 1440 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 570 | |
| 1400 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 900 | |
| 480 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 120 | |
| 16 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 24 | |
| 10 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 29 | |
| 2.2 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 97 | |
| 2.5 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 9.5 | |
| 12 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 2.7 | |
| 7.8 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 9.0 | |
| 2.6 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 150 | |
| 36 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 1170 | |
| 130 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 33 to 46 | |
| 120 to 140 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 170 to 470 | |
| 960 to 2270 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 14 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 50 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 33 to 35 | |
| 31 to 39 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 38 to 40 | |
| 26 to 30 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 48 | |
| 4.4 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 14 to 15 | |
| 31 to 39 |
Alloy Composition
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| Aluminum (Al), % | 92 to 94.8 | |
| 0 |
| Carbon (C), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.060 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0.050 to 0.2 | |
| 15.5 to 17.5 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 0 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 0 to 0.4 | |
| 74.4 to 80.5 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 4.7 to 5.5 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.5 to 1.0 | |
| 0 to 1.0 |
| Molybdenum (Mo), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.7 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 4.0 to 5.5 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.035 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 0 to 0.8 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.020 |
| Titanium (Ti), % | 0 to 0.2 | |
| 0 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 to 0.25 | |
| 0 |
| Residuals, % | 0 to 0.15 | |
| 0 |