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ASTM A387 Grade 21 Steel vs. 6063 Aluminum

ASTM A387 grade 21 steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while 6063 aluminum belongs to the aluminum alloys. There are 31 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (2, 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 6063 aluminum.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Brinell Hardness 150 to 180
25 to 95
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 190
68
Elongation at Break, % 21
7.3 to 21
Fatigue Strength, MPa 160 to 250
39 to 95
Poisson's Ratio 0.29
0.33
Shear Modulus, GPa 74
26
Shear Strength, MPa 310 to 370
70 to 190
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 500 to 590
110 to 300
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 230 to 350
49 to 270

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g 260
400
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 480
160
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C 1470
650
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 1430
620
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 470
900
Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K 41
190 to 220
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 13
23

Electrical Properties

Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS 7.6
49 to 58
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS 8.8
160 to 190

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
8.3
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg 23
150
Embodied Water, L/kg 62
1190

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 84 to 110
13 to 27
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 140 to 320
18 to 540
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 13
14
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 24
50
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 18 to 21
11 to 31
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 18 to 20
18 to 37
Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s 11
79 to 89
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 14 to 17
4.8 to 13

Alloy Composition

Aluminum (Al), % 0
97.5 to 99.4
Carbon (C), % 0.050 to 0.15
0
Chromium (Cr), % 2.8 to 3.3
0 to 0.1
Copper (Cu), % 0
0 to 0.1
Iron (Fe), % 94.4 to 96
0 to 0.35
Magnesium (Mg), % 0
0.45 to 0.9
Manganese (Mn), % 0.3 to 0.6
0 to 0.1
Molybdenum (Mo), % 0.9 to 1.1
0
Phosphorus (P), % 0 to 0.025
0
Silicon (Si), % 0 to 0.5
0.2 to 0.6
Sulfur (S), % 0 to 0.025
0
Titanium (Ti), % 0
0 to 0.1
Zinc (Zn), % 0
0 to 0.1
Residuals, % 0
0 to 0.15

Comparable Variants