SAE-AISI 1020 Steel vs. AISI 304LN Stainless Steel
Both SAE-AISI 1020 steel and AISI 304LN stainless steel are iron alloys. They have 70% of their average alloy composition in common. There are 31 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (3, in this case) are not shown.
For each property being compared, the top bar is SAE-AISI 1020 steel and the bottom bar is AISI 304LN stainless steel.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Brinell Hardness | 120 to 130 | |
| 190 to 350 |
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 200 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 17 to 28 | |
| 7.8 to 46 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 180 to 250 | |
| 200 to 440 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.28 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 73 | |
| 77 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 280 | |
| 400 to 680 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 430 to 460 | |
| 580 to 1160 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 240 to 380 | |
| 230 to 870 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 250 | |
| 290 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 400 | |
| 960 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1460 | |
| 1420 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1420 | |
| 1380 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 480 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 52 | |
| 15 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 12 | |
| 16 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 11 | |
| 2.4 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 12 | |
| 2.7 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 1.8 | |
| 16 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.9 | |
| 7.8 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 1.4 | |
| 3.1 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 18 | |
| 44 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 45 | |
| 150 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 72 to 100 | |
| 83 to 270 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 150 to 380 | |
| 140 to 1900 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 14 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 25 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 15 to 16 | |
| 21 to 41 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 16 to 17 | |
| 20 to 31 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 14 | |
| 4.0 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 13 to 14 | |
| 13 to 26 |
Alloy Composition
| Carbon (C), % | 0.18 to 0.23 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Chromium (Cr), % | 0 | |
| 18 to 20 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 99.08 to 99.52 | |
| 65 to 73.9 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.3 to 0.6 | |
| 0 to 2.0 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 8.0 to 12 |
| Nitrogen (N), % | 0 | |
| 0.1 to 0.16 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.040 | |
| 0 to 0.045 |
| Silicon (Si), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.75 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.050 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |