ASTM Material

Numbering System
Interpretation

Presented By Eng. Mohamed Amro Torab

Welding , NDT and Quality Management Consultant and Instructor
ASNT NDT Level III, CWIP 3.2 , CWI

ASTM Material Numbering System Interpretation

ASTM specifications represent a consensus among producers, specifiers,

fabricators, and users of steel mill products. ASTM’s designation system for
metals consists of a letter (A for ferrous materials) followed by an arbitrary
sequentially assigned number. These designations often apply to specific
products, for example A548 is applicable to cold-heading quality carbon steel
wire for tapping or sheet metal screws.

Steel standards are instrumental in classifying, evaluating, and specifying the

material, chemical, mechanical, and metallurgical properties of the different
types of steels, which are primarily used in the production of mechanical
components, industrial parts, and construction elements. The most widely
used standard specifications for steel products in the United States are those
published by ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials).
 ASTM Material Numbering System Interpretation

ASTM specifications represent a consensus among producers, specifiers,

fabricators, and users of steel mill products. In many cases, the
dimensions, tolerances, limits, and restrictions in the ASTM specifications
are similar to or the same as the corresponding items in the standard
practices contained in the AISI Steel Products Manuals.
Many of the ASTM specifications have been adopted by the American
Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) with little or no modification;
ASME uses the prefix S and the ASTM designation for these
specifications. For example, ASME-SA213 and ASTM A 213 are identical.
ASTM’s designation system for metals consists of a letter (A for ferrous
materials) followed by an arbitrary sequentially assigned number. These
designations often apply to specific products, for example A548 is
applicable to cold-heading quality carbon steel wire for tapping or sheet
metal screws. Metric ASTM standards have a suffix letter M.

ASTM Material Numbering System Interpretation

Examples of the ASTM ferrous metal designation system, describing its use of
specification numbers and letters, are shown below:
Example - ASTM A 582/A 582M-95b (2000), Grade 303Se-Free-Machining
Stainless Steel Bars:
‘A’ describes a ferrous metal, but does not sub classify it as cast iron, carbon steel,
alloy steel, tool steel, or stainless steel;
582 is a sequential number without any relationship to the metal’s properties;
M indicates that the standard A582M is written in rationalized SI units (the M
comes from the word Metric), hence together 582/A582M includes both inch-
pound and SI units;
95 indicates the year of adoption or last revision and a letter b following the year
indicates the third revision of the standard in1995;
(2000), a number in parentheses, indicates the year of last re-approval;
Grade 300Se indicates the grade of the steel, and in this case, it has a Se
(selenium) addition.
 ASTM Material Numbering System Interpretation

Within the steel industry, the terms Grade, Type, and Class are generally defined
as follows: Grade is used to describe chemical composition; Type is used to define
the deoxidation practice; and Class is used to indicate other characteristics such as
strength level or surface finish. However, within the ASTM standards, these terms
were adopted and used to identify a particular metal within a metal standard and
used without any strict definition. Although there are differences between the
ASTM and traditional definitions of these terms ASTM have applied some loose
rules to the use of this terminology in their designation system :

Example 1 - ASTM A 106-02a Grade A, Grade B, Grade C - Seamless Carbon

Steel Pipe for High-Temperature Service:
Typically an increase in alphabet (such as letters A, B, C) results in higher tensile
or yield strength steels, and if it’s an unalloyed carbon steel, an increase in carbon
content;
In this case: Grade A:0.25%C (max), 48 ksi tensile strength (min); Grade B:
0.30%C (max), 60 ksi tensile strength (min); Grade C 0.35%C (max), 70 ksi tensile
strength (min).

ASTM Material Numbering System Interpretation

Example 2 - ASTM A 276-03, Type 304, 316, 410 – Stainless and Heat Resisting
Steel Bars and Shapes:
Types 304, 316, 410 and others are based on the SAE designation system for
stainless steels (see SAE and former AISI description that follows).
Another use of ASTM grade designators is found in pipe, tube, and forging
products, where the first letter P refers to pipe, T refers to tube, TP may refer to
tube or pipe, and F refers to forging.
Examples are found in the following ASTM specifications:
ASTM A 335/A335-03, Grade P22; Seamless Ferritic Alloy-Steel Pipe for High
Temperature Service;
ASTM A 213/A213M-03a, Grade T22; Seamless Ferritic and Austenitic Alloy
Steel Boiler, Superheater and Heat-Exchanger Tubes;
ASTM A 312/A312M-03, Grade TP304; Seamless and Welded Austenitic
Stainless Steel Pipe;
ASTM A 336/A336M-03a, Class F22-Steel Forgings, Alloy, for Pressure and
High-Temperature Parts.
 ASTM Material Numbering System Interpretation

Click on the links

li below to view groups of ASTM standards:
Iron, Nickel Alloy/Heat Resistant Nickel Alloys and High Silicon Steel
Structural and Constructional Steels: Part One
Structural and Constructional Steels: Part Two
Structural and Constructional Steels: Part Three
Structural and Constructional Steels: Part Four
Structural and Constructional Steels: Part Five
Stainless Steels
Castings
Forgings, Welding and Filler Materials, Powder Metallurgy
Coated Steels
Ferro Alloys, Others and Terms/Definitions
Testing / Determination

ASTM Material Numbering System Interpretation

Thank You
Mohamed Amro Torab