What is aluminum's tensile strength?

Pure aluminum has a tensile strength of 70 GPa or 40-50 MPa. This is not very strong, and aluminum's strength can be improved by adding other metals to create aluminum alloys. However, aluminum's tensile strength tends to increase with colder temperatures, giving this metal an advantage over steel, which becomes brittle when exposed to low temperatures.

Aluminum can be alloyed with other metals including manganese, silicon, copper and magnesium. These aluminum alloys can have tensile strength measurements that are several hundred points higher than pure aluminum. For comparison, human skin has a tensile strength of 20 MPa and human hair has a tensile strength of 380 MPa.