Aluminium and Iron - Comparison - Properties

This article contains comparison of key thermal and atomic properties of aluminium and iron, two comparable chemical elements from the periodic table. It also contains basic descriptions and applications of both elements. Aluminium vs Iron.

aluminium and iron - comparison

Compare aluminium with another element

Compare iron with another element

Aluminium and Iron – About Elements

Aluminium

Aluminium is a silvery-white, soft, nonmagnetic, ductile metal in the boron group. By mass, aluminium makes up about 8% of the Earth’s crust; it is the third most abundant element after oxygen and silicon and the most abundant metal in the crust, though it is less common in the mantle below.

Iron

Iron is a metal in the first transition series. It is by mass the most common element on Earth, forming much of Earth’s outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth’s crust. Its abundance in rocky planets like Earth is due to its abundant production by fusion in high-mass stars.

Aluminium in Periodic Table

Iron in Periodic Table

Source: www.luciteria.com

Aluminium and Iron – Applications

Aluminium

Aluminium and its alloys are used widely in aerospace, automotive, architectural, lithographic, packaging, electrical and electronic applications. It is the prime material of construction for the aircraft industry throughout most of its history. About 70% of commercial civil aircraft airframes are made from aluminium alloys, and without aluminium civil aviation would not be economically viable. Automotive industry now includes aluminium as engine castings, wheels, radiators and increasingly as body parts. 6111 aluminium and 2008 aluminium alloy are extensively used for external automotive body panels. Cylinder blocks and crankcases are often cast made of aluminium alloys.

Iron

Iron is used in numerous sectors such as electronics, manufacturing, automotive, and construction and building. Iron is the most widely used of all the metals, accounting for over 90% of worldwide metal produc0tion. Its low cost and high strength often make it the material of choice material to withstand stress or transmit forces, such as the construction of machinery and machine tools, rails, automobiles, ship hulls, concrete reinforcing bars, and the load-carrying framework of buildings. Since pure iron is quite soft, it is most commonly combined with alloying elements to make steel. Steels are iron–carbon alloys that may contain appreciable concentrations of other alloying elements. Adding a small amount of non-metallic carbon to iron trades its great ductility for the greater strength. Due to its very-high strength, but still substantial toughness, and its ability to be greatly altered by heat treatment, steel is one of the most useful and common ferrous alloy in modern use. There are thousands of alloys that have different compositions and/or heat treatments. The mechanical properties are sensitive to the content of carbon, which is normally less than 1.0 wt%.

Aluminium and Iron – Comparison in Table

Element	Aluminium	Iron
Density	2.7 g/cm3	7.874 g/cm3
Ultimate Tensile Strength	90 MPa (pure), 600 MPa (alloys)	540 MPa
Yield Strength	11 MPa (pure), 400 MPa (alloys)	50 MPa
Young’s Modulus of Elasticity	70 GPa	211 GPa
Mohs Scale	2.8	4.5
Brinell Hardness	240 MPa	490 MPa
Vickers Hardness	167 MPa	608 MPa
Melting Point	660 °C	1538 °C
Boiling Point	2467 °C	2861 °C
Thermal Conductivity	237 W/mK	80.2 W/mK
Thermal Expansion Coefficient	23.1 µm/mK	11.8 µm/mK
Specific Heat	0.9 J/g K	0.44 J/g K
Heat of Fusion	10.79 kJ/mol	13.8 kJ/mol
Heat of Vaporization	293.4 kJ/mol	349.6 kJ/mol