AZ91A Magnesium vs. C12900 Copper
AZ91A magnesium belongs to the magnesium alloys classification, while C12900 copper belongs to the copper 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 AZ91A magnesium and the bottom bar is C12900 copper.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 46 | |
| 120 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 5.0 | |
| 2.8 to 50 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.34 |
| Rockwell F Hardness | 75 | |
| 40 to 95 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 18 | |
| 43 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 140 | |
| 150 to 210 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 240 | |
| 220 to 420 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 160 | |
| 75 to 380 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 360 | |
| 210 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 130 | |
| 200 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 600 | |
| 1080 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 470 | |
| 1030 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 990 | |
| 390 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 73 | |
| 380 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 26 | |
| 17 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 10 | |
| 98 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 52 | |
| 98 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 12 | |
| 32 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 1.7 | |
| 9.0 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 22 | |
| 2.6 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 160 | |
| 41 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 990 | |
| 330 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 11 | |
| 11 to 88 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 280 | |
| 24 to 640 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 15 | |
| 7.2 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 69 | |
| 18 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 38 | |
| 6.8 to 13 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 49 | |
| 9.1 to 14 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 42 | |
| 110 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 14 | |
| 7.8 to 15 |
Alloy Composition
| Aluminum (Al), % | 8.3 to 9.7 | |
| 0 |
| Antimony (Sb), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.0030 |
| Arsenic (As), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.012 |
| Bismuth (Bi), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.0030 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 to 0.1 | |
| 99.88 to 100 |
| Lead (Pb), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.0040 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 88.2 to 91.2 | |
| 0 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.13 to 0.5 | |
| 0 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 to 0.030 | |
| 0 to 0.050 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 to 0.5 | |
| 0 |
| Silver (Ag), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.054 |
| Tellurium (Te), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.025 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0.35 to 1.0 | |
| 0 |