Introduction
This page is includes information on the costs of different metals used in mechanical
engineering. When producing mechanical components the material costs is
generally of limited significance . Other costs should be included when comparing
materials including design, procurement, production control, forming, machining, finishing,
distribution, etc etc. A component lifetime costs include maintenance, corrosion
protection and recovery (scrap).
The raw material cost for a particular component may be 20 times the cost if made from
one material compared to another on a weight to weight basis. However the lifetime
costs may be very similar if all of the other factors are also taken into consideration.
The material cost of a mass produced investment casting item may be 80% of the final cost. The
material cost of a single complicated machined item may be less than 10% of the final cost..
It is not possible to provide cost comparisons between different metals to any level of
accuracy. Each metal is varying in price on a day to day basis and different
alloys of the same metal can have significantly different costs.
A grade 7 titanium alloy costs twice as much as pure titanium (grade 1,2 or 3).
Comparing costs should only be based on final installed costs. eg. for a domestic,
industrial piping system a screwed steel system would cost about 40% more than a
copper piping system...
Example :
The price of a titanium /titanium alloy products results from a number of factors:
- Alloying grade .some grades e.g with Pd alloying component, can significantly increase
the price of the alloy.
- The purity of the grade... the more pure the higher the cost
- The test and inspection requirements;
- The procured quantities. The more ordered the lower the specific cost
- The geometry ..rolling or forging affects prices per volume or weight
- Demand ..e.g High defence demand for aerospace industry can result in higher metal prices
- Local economy.. Metal availability
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In year 2000 the price of titanium was about �13 000 to �43 000/tonne..
In 2002 the price of raw titanium was about to �8960/tonne.
In 2005 to-date the price of titanium has varied between �6000 and �9000 /tonne
Ref 2010 ..I have enclosed a chart from the metalprices webpage to illustrate to range of titanium ingot pricing over a 12 month period
11$/lb is equal to about �15,700/tonne"
Table showing relative metal costs
The table below can only really be used to give broad relative initial material costs. The figures
are based on a reference source originating about 2002
| Material |
Density |
Cost/tonne |
Relative |
Cost /m3 |
Relative |
| kg/m3 |
�/tonne |
�/tonne |
�/m3 |
�/m3 |
| Carbon Steel |
7820 |
550 |
1 |
4301 |
1,0 |
| Alloy Steels |
7820 |
830 |
1,51 |
6490,6 |
1,5 |
| Cast Iron |
7225 |
830 |
1,51 |
5996,75 |
1,4 |
| Stainless Steel |
7780 |
4450 |
8,1 |
34 621 |
8,0 |
| Aluminium/alloys |
2700 |
2220 |
4,0 |
5994 |
1,4 |
| Copper /Alloys |
8900 |
5550 |
10,1 |
49 395 |
11,5 |
| Zinc alloys |
7100 |
2220 |
4,0 |
15 762 |
3,7 |
| Magnesium /alloys |
1800 |
4000 |
7,3 |
7200 |
1,8 |
| Titanium /alloys |
4500 |
17 000 |
30,9 |
76 500 |
17,4 |
| Nickel alloys |
8900 |
18 000 |
32,7 |
160 200 |
36,8 |
Current Metal Prices.. November 2010
I have tried to obtain some current (Nov 2010) metal prices from various internet sources and I list
them below..These sometimes differ considerably from the table above
| Material |
Cost/tonne |
Relative Cost
(weight) |
Relative Cost
(volume) |
| �/tonne |
| Steel (Billet) LME-Nov-2010 |
321 |
1 |
1 |
| Steel (Hot Rolled Plate)-MEPS-July-2010 |
505 |
1,6 |
1,6 |
| 304 Steel (Hot Rolled Plate)-MEPS-July-2010 |
2 536 |
7,9 |
7,9 |
| 316 Steel (Hot Rolled Plate)-MEPS-July-2010 |
3 535 |
11 |
11 |
| Tin- LME-Nov-2010 |
15 458 |
48 |
45 |
| Aluminium Alloy - LME-Nov-2010 |
1 407 |
4,.4 |
1,5 |
| Aluminium - LME-Nov-2010 |
1 425 |
4,4 |
1,5 |
| Copper - LME -Nov-2010 |
5 279 |
16,4 |
18,7 |
| Zinc - LME -Nov-2010 |
1 412 |
4,4 |
4,0 |
| Nickel - LME -Nov-2010 |
14 398 |
44 |
51 |
| Lead - LME-Nov-2010 |
1 414 |
4,4 |
6,4 |
| Titanium (ingot 6AL-4V) steelonthenet (11$/lb) |
15 700 |
49 |
28 |
Prices in dollars for 25mm round bar x 300mm long (0,00015m3 ) ...November 2010 (Onlinemetals (USA)
| Metal |
Price $
|
�1000/tonne
|
�1000/m3
|
Relative cost
(weight) |
Relative cost
(volume) |
| Steel HR (A56) | 6 | 3,2 | 24,7 | 1 | 1 |
| Steel CD (12L40) | 7,4 | 3,9 | 30,5 | 1.23 | 1.23 |
| Alloy Steel (4130) | 9,99 | 5,3 | 41,2 | 1.66 | 1.66 |
| St.Stl (304L) | 15,34 | 8,1 | 63,2 | 2.6 | 2.56 |
| St.Stl (316L) | 20,61 | 10,9 | 84,9 | 3.4 | 3.44 |
| Aluminium (2011-T3) | 8,58 | 13,1 | 35,4 | 4.2 | 1.43 |
| Copper (C110) | 37,91 | 17,5 | 156,2 | 5.6 | 6.32 |
| Brass (C360) | 25,3 | 11,7 | 104,3 | 3.7 | 4.22 |
| Bronze | 42,09 | 19,5 | 173,5 | 6.2 | 7.0 |
| Titanium (6AL-4VG5) | 107 | 98 | 441 | 31 | 17.8 |
Comparison of raw bulk material costs above with actual metal stock prices
..Looking at the cost per tonne of HR steel in the form of a 1" dia bar 1 foot long at �3200 against the LME price for
the raw material in bulk for at �321/tonne illustrates the massive diiference in the price of raw materials to the actual
price of materials as supplied for initial machining processes in small quantities.
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