SAE-AISI 1084 Steel vs. WE43B Magnesium
SAE-AISI 1084 steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while WE43B magnesium belongs to the magnesium 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 SAE-AISI 1084 steel and the bottom bar is WE43B magnesium.
Metric UnitsUS Customary Units
Mechanical Properties
| Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa | 190 | |
| 44 |
| Elongation at Break, % | 11 | |
| 2.2 |
| Fatigue Strength, MPa | 320 to 370 | |
| 110 |
| Poisson's Ratio | 0.29 | |
| 0.29 |
| Shear Modulus, GPa | 72 | |
| 17 |
| Shear Strength, MPa | 470 to 550 | |
| 140 |
| Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa | 780 to 930 | |
| 250 |
| Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa | 510 to 600 | |
| 200 |
Thermal Properties
| Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g | 240 | |
| 330 |
| Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C | 400 | |
| 180 |
| Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C | 1450 | |
| 640 |
| Melting Onset (Solidus), °C | 1410 | |
| 550 |
| Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K | 470 | |
| 960 |
| Thermal Conductivity, W/m-K | 51 | |
| 51 |
| Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K | 12 | |
| 27 |
Electrical Properties
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume, % IACS | 7.1 | |
| 11 |
| Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific), % IACS | 8.2 | |
| 53 |
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
| Base Metal Price, % relative | 1.8 | |
| 34 |
| Density, g/cm3 | 7.8 | |
| 1.9 |
| Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material | 1.4 | |
| 28 |
| Embodied Energy, MJ/kg | 19 | |
| 250 |
| Embodied Water, L/kg | 46 | |
| 910 |
Common Calculations
| Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 | 81 to 89 | |
| 5.2 |
| Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 | 700 to 960 | |
| 430 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points | 13 | |
| 13 |
| Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points | 24 | |
| 61 |
| Strength to Weight: Axial, points | 28 to 33 | |
| 36 |
| Strength to Weight: Bending, points | 24 to 27 | |
| 46 |
| Thermal Diffusivity, mm2/s | 14 | |
| 28 |
| Thermal Shock Resistance, points | 25 to 30 | |
| 15 |
Alloy Composition
| Carbon (C), % | 0.8 to 0.93 | |
| 0 |
| Copper (Cu), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.020 |
| Iron (Fe), % | 98.1 to 98.6 | |
| 0 to 0.010 |
| Lithium (Li), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.2 |
| Magnesium (Mg), % | 0 | |
| 89.8 to 93.5 |
| Manganese (Mn), % | 0.6 to 0.9 | |
| 0 to 0.030 |
| Nickel (Ni), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.0050 |
| Phosphorus (P), % | 0 to 0.040 | |
| 0 |
| Sulfur (S), % | 0 to 0.050 | |
| 0 |
| Unspecified Rare Earths, % | 0 | |
| 2.4 to 4.4 |
| Yttrium (Y), % | 0 | |
| 3.7 to 4.3 |
| Zinc (Zn), % | 0 | |
| 0 to 0.2 |
| Zirconium (Zr), % | 0 | |
| 0.4 to 1.0 |