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ASTM A387 Grade 21 Steel vs. 5652 Aluminum

ASTM A387 grade 21 steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 5652 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. There are 31 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (1, 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 ASTM A387 grade 21 steel and the bottom bar is 5652 aluminum.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Brinell Hardness 150 to 180
47 to 77
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 190
68
Elongation at Break, % 21
6.8 to 25
Fatigue Strength, MPa 160 to 250
60 to 140
Poisson's Ratio 0.29
0.33
Shear Modulus, GPa 74
26
Shear Strength, MPa 310 to 370
110 to 170
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 500 to 590
190 to 290
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 230 to 350
74 to 260

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g 260
400
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 480
190
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C 1470
650
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 1430
610
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 470
900
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 41
140
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 13
24

Electrical Properties

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS 7.6
35
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS 8.8
120

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price, % relative 4.1
9.5
Density, g/cm3 7.9
2.7
Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material 1.8
8.6
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg 23
150
Embodied Water, L/kg 62
1190

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 84 to 110
12 to 39
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 140 to 320
40 to 480
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 13
14
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 24
51
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 18 to 21
20 to 30
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 18 to 20
27 to 36
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 11
57
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 14 to 17
8.4 to 13

Alloy Composition

Aluminum (Al), % 0
95.8 to 97.7
Carbon (C), % 0.050 to 0.15
0
Chromium (Cr), % 2.8 to 3.3
0.15 to 0.35
Copper (Cu), % 0
0 to 0.040
Iron (Fe), % 94.4 to 96
0 to 0.4
Magnesium (Mg), % 0
2.2 to 2.8
Manganese (Mn), % 0.3 to 0.6
0 to 0.010
Molybdenum (Mo), % 0.9 to 1.1
0
Phosphorus (P), % 0 to 0.025
0
Silicon (Si), % 0 to 0.5
0 to 0.4
Sulfur (S), % 0 to 0.025
0
Zinc (Zn), % 0
0 to 0.1
Residuals, % 0
0 to 0.15

Comparable Variants