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S21600 Stainless Steel vs. WE54A Magnesium

S21600 stainless steel belongs to the iron alloys classification, while WE54A magnesium belongs to the magnesium alloys. There are 27 material properties with values for both materials. Properties with values for just one material (9, 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 S21600 stainless steel and the bottom bar is WE54A magnesium.

Metric UnitsUS Customary Units

Mechanical Properties

Brinell Hardness 200
85
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus, GPa 200
44
Elongation at Break, % 46
4.3 to 5.6
Fatigue Strength, MPa 360
98 to 130
Poisson's Ratio 0.28
0.29
Shear Modulus, GPa 79
17
Shear Strength, MPa 500
150 to 170
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS), MPa 710
270 to 300
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof), MPa 390
180

Thermal Properties

Latent Heat of Fusion, J/g 290
330
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical, °C 990
170
Melting Completion (Liquidus), °C 1420
640
Melting Onset (Solidus), °C 1380
570
Specific Heat Capacity, J/kg-K 480
960
Thermal Expansion, µm/m-K 17
25

Otherwise Unclassified Properties

Base Metal Price, % relative 17
34
Density, g/cm3 7.7
1.9
Embodied Carbon, kg CO2/kg material 3.6
29
Embodied Energy, MJ/kg 50
260
Embodied Water, L/kg 160
900

Common Calculations

Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work), MJ/m3 270
10 to 14
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience), kJ/m3 370
360 to 380
Stiffness to Weight: Axial, points 14
13
Stiffness to Weight: Bending, points 25
62
Strength to Weight: Axial, points 25
39 to 43
Strength to Weight: Bending, points 23
49 to 51
Thermal Shock Resistance, points 15
18 to 19

Alloy Composition

Carbon (C), % 0 to 0.080
0
Chromium (Cr), % 17.5 to 22
0
Copper (Cu), % 0
0 to 0.030
Iron (Fe), % 57.6 to 67.8
0 to 0.010
Lithium (Li), % 0
0 to 0.2
Magnesium (Mg), % 0
88.7 to 93.4
Manganese (Mn), % 7.5 to 9.0
0 to 0.030
Molybdenum (Mo), % 2.0 to 3.0
0
Nickel (Ni), % 5.0 to 7.0
0 to 0.0050
Nitrogen (N), % 0.25 to 0.5
0
Phosphorus (P), % 0 to 0.045
0
Silicon (Si), % 0 to 0.75
0 to 0.010
Sulfur (S), % 0 to 0.030
0
Unspecified Rare Earths, % 0
1.5 to 4.0
Yttrium (Y), % 0
4.8 to 5.5
Zinc (Zn), % 0
0 to 0.2
Zirconium (Zr), % 0
0.4 to 1.0
Residuals, % 0
0 to 0.3