Specific Heat Capacity of Metals at 298 K

Specific heat capacity describes the energy needed to raise a unit mass by one degree. The values below compare selected pure solid elements at 298 K (about 25 °C), using molar heat-capacity data converted to a mass basis. They are reference points, not full property curves for commercial alloys.

Specific heat capacity at 298 K

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Specific heat capacity of selected pure metals

Selected solid-phase mass-specific heat capacities evaluated at 298 K from NIST reference data.

1–5 of 5 matching rows (5 total)

Specific heat capacity of selected pure metals — page 1 of 1
Pure element	Phase at reference point	Reference temperature (K)	Mass-specific heat capacity (J/(kg K))
Aluminum	Solid	298	896.3
Copper	Solid	298	385.1
Iron (alpha phase)	Solid, alpha	298	449.3
Nickel	Solid	298	442.7
Zinc	Solid	298	388.4

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Using the values

For a modest temperature interval with nearly constant heat capacity, the sensible heat estimate is Q ≈ m c_p ΔT. Here Q is energy, m is mass, c_p is mass-specific heat capacity, and ΔT is the temperature change. With kilograms, J/(kg·K), and kelvins, Q is in joules. A temperature difference of one kelvin has the same magnitude as one degree Celsius.

For example, using the table’s aluminum value, heating 2 kg through 20 K gives Q ≈ 2 × 896.3 × 20 = 35,852 J, or about 35.9 kJ. This is an estimate that assumes the listed heat capacity is constant over the interval and ignores heat losses, phase change, and work. For a wide temperature range, integrate heat capacity over temperature or use a source that supplies an appropriate property curve.

How the data were converted

The NIST Chemistry WebBook reports heat capacity in molar units for several elements. To convert, multiply a value expressed in cal/(mol·K) by 4.184 J/cal, then divide by molar mass in kg/mol. Values reported directly in J/(mol·K) are divided by the same molar-mass basis. The table rounds the resulting mass-specific values to three significant figures.

Phase matters: the iron row is alpha iron, and each row refers to a solid at the stated reference temperature. Heat capacity changes with temperature and may change sharply near a phase transition. Alloying, heat treatment, porosity, and material condition can also make an engineering alloy differ from its pure constituents.

Limits and sources

These selected values are transcribed or calculated from the NIST Chemistry WebBook, Standard Reference Database 69, using its JANAF and Shomate heat-capacity data and listed molar masses. The source references are not all recent. Check the underlying NIST entry and a current material-specific source before using a value in a thermal design, energy balance, or safety-critical calculation.