ASTM Standards: Carbon & Alloy Steels

About the Course

This two day course is designed to teach the basics of carbon steels and alloy steels to improve your ability to correctly write and review steel specifications when ordering or specifying steels based on ASTM Steel Standards.

These goals are achieved by studying more than 80 Connecting-the-Standards Examples covering more than 40 ASTM product specifications, general requirements specifications, test methods, practices, and terminology standards.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course you will be able to:

• Correctly classify steels as being a carbon steel, low-alloy steel, or alloy steel as defined and used in ASTM steel standards
• Recognize the different types of ASTM steel standards, their functions, terminology, and designation systems, including how they differ from other steel specifications and designations like AISI, ASME, SAE, etc.
• Identify all referenced ASTM steel standards required to be addressed
• Associate each ASTM steel product specification with its general requirements specification
• Navigate ASTM steel standards to identify mandatory, nonmandatory, and purchaser selected supplementary or additional requirements
• Distinguish how ASTM steel standards differ with varying wrought product forms (e.g., plate/sheet/strip, pipe, shapes, forgings, etc.)
• Explain the roles of chemical elements in carbon, low-alloy, and alloy steels, including specified elements, unspecified elements, and residual elements
• Explain carbon and manganese content affect the mechanical properties of carbon steels
• Distinguish between a heat of steel and lot of steel, as well as between a steel’s heat analysis and product analysis
• Explain how the ASTM A370 standard for mechanical testing of steel products is used for different forms of carbon, low-alloy, and alloy steels
• Describe common mechanical testing requirements for tension, impact, hardness, and bending.

Who Should Attend

This course is designed for all personnel involved with steels and particularly ASTM Steel Standards, such as, engineers, inspectors, QA/QC coordinators, NDE examiners, purchasers, inventory control personnel, tradespeople, manufacturing, fabricating and repair companies, engineering procurement companies, construction companies, and others working in most industries that use steel, including: civil construction (buildings, bridges), pressure equipment, ship building, water treatment, pipelines, oil and gas industries (oilfield, upgraders, refineries, etc.), chemical plants, petroleum refining, petrochemical plants, power plants, pulp and paper plants, fertilizer plants, and many others.

Course Outline

• How are carbon steel, low-alloy steel, and alloy steel defined in ASTM steel standards?
• What are ASTM steel standards and how are they used to specify and order steel products?
• What is a low-carbon steel, medium-carbon steel, and high-carbon steel, as defined in ASTM steel standards?
• How is an alloy steel uniquely different than a low-alloy steel, high-strength low-alloy steel (HSLA) or microalloyed steel, as defined in ASTM steel standards?
• How are ASTM carbon and alloy steel product specifications and grades designated and how do they differ from other steel designations like AISI, ASME, SAE, and others?
• What is a: steel heat, heat analysis, heat number, steel lot, and product analysis, as defined in ASTM steel standards?
• What are common chemical elements in carbon steels and how do they differ from residual elements and unspecified elements in ASTM standards?
• Why do some chemical elements have requirements specified as a minimum value, maximum value, or minimum-maximum range value?
• What are the roles of chemical elements in low-alloy, high strength low-alloy, microalloyed, and alloy steels?
• How is ASTM A370 Standard for Mechanical Testing of Steel Products used with product specifications for:
  • tension testing (and referenced to E8);
  • impact testing (and referenced to E23);
  • hardness testing (and referenced to ASTM E10, E18, E110, A833, A956, A1038); and
  • bend testing (and referenced to E190 and E290)?
• How are steel making and heat treatment requirements specified in ASTM steel standards?
• How are NDE, pressure testing, and other QC testing requirements specified in ASTM steel standards?
• How and why are product sizes, dimensional limits, and tolerance requirements specified in in ASTM steel standards?
• How are products required to be marked and certified in accordance with ASTM steel standards?

ASTM Standards Referenced

This course references the following ASTM Standards:

• ASTM A6/A6M General Requirements for Rolled Structural Steel Bars, Plates, Shapes, and Sheet Piling
• ASTM A20/A20M Standard Specification for General Requirements for Steel Plates for Pressure Vessels
• ASTM A29/A29M Standard Specification for General Requirements for Steel Bars, Carbon and Alloy, Hot-Wrought
• ASTM A36/A36M Standard Specification for Carbon Structural Steel
• ASTM A106/A106M Standard Specification for Seamless Carbon Steel Pipe for High-Temperature Service
• ASTM A109/A109M Standard Specification for Steel, Strip, Carbon (0.25 Maximum Percent), Cold-Rolled
• ASTM A131/A131M Standard Specification for Structural Steel for Ships
• ASTM A179/A179M Standard Specification for Seamless Cold-Drawn Low-Carbon Steel Heat Exchanger and Condenser Tubes
• ASTM A213/A213M Standard Specification for Seamless Ferritic and Austenitic Alloy-Steel Boiler, Superheater, and Heat-Exchanger Tubes
• ASTM A242/242M Standard Specification for High-Strength Low-Alloy Structural Steel
• ASTM A304 Standard Specification for Carbon and Alloy Steel Bars Subject to End-Quench Hardenability Requirements
• ASTM A322 Standard Specification for Steel Bars, Alloy, Standard Grades
• ASTM A333/A333M Standard Specification for Seamless and Welded Steel Pipe for Low-Temperature Service and Other Applications with Required Notch Toughness
• ASTM A335/A335M Standard Specification for Seamless Ferritic Alloy-Steel Pipe for High-Temperature Service
• ASTM A335/A335M Standard Specification for Seamless Ferritic Alloy-Steel Pipe for High‑Temperature Service
• ASTM A336/A336M Standard Specification for Alloy Steel Forgings for Pressure and High‑Temperature Parts
• ASTM A350/A350M Standard Specification for Carbon and Low-Alloy Steel Forgings, Requiring Notch Toughness Testing for Piping Components
• ASTM A370 Standard Test Methods and Definitions for Mechanical Testing of Steel Products
• ASTM A490M Standard Specification for High-Strength Steel Bolts, Classes 10.9 and 10.9.3, for Structural Steel Joints (Metric)
• ASTM A500/A500M Standard Specification for Cold-Formed Welded and Seamless Carbon Steel Structural Tubing in Rounds and Shapes
• ASTM A516/A516M Standard Specification for Pressure Vessel Plates, Carbon Steel, for Moderate- and Lower-Temperature Service
• ASTM A541/A541M Standard Specification for Quenched and Tempered Carbon and Alloy Steel Forgings for Pressure Vessel Components
• ASTM A592 Standard Specification for High-Strength Quenched and Tempered Low-Alloy Steel Forged Parts for Pressure Vessels
• ASTM A595/A595M Standard Specification for Steel Tubes, Low-Carbon or High-Strength Low-Alloy, Tapered for Structural Use
• ASTM A686 Standard Specification for Tool Steel, Carbon
• ASTM A707/A707M Standard Specification for Forged Carbon and Alloy Steel Flanges for Low-Temperature Service
• ASTM A709/A709M Standard Specification for Structural Steel for Bridges: All Shapes
• ASTM A713 Standard Specification for Steel Wire, High-Carbon Spring, for Heat-Treated Components
• ASTM A751 Standard Test Methods, Practices, and Terminology for Chemical Analysis of Steel Products
• ASTM A788/A788M Standard Specification for Steel Forgings, General Requirements
• ASTM A866 Standard Specification for Medium Carbon Anti-Friction Bearing Steel
• ASTM A920/A920M Standard Specification for Steel Bars, Microalloy, Hot-Wrought, Special Quality, Mechanical Properties
• ASTM A941 Standard Terminology Relating to Steel, Stainless Steel, Related Alloys, and Ferroalloys
• ASTM A961/A961M Standard Specification for Common Requirements for Steel Flanges, Forged Fittings, Valves, and Parts for Piping Applications
• ASTM A999/A999M Standard Specification for General Requirements for Alloy and Stainless Steel Pipe
• ASTM A1003/A1003M Standard Specification for Steel Sheet, Carbon, Metallic- and Nonmetallic-Coated for Cold-Formed Framing Members
• ASTM A1008/A1008M Standard Specification for Steel, Sheet, Cold-Rolled, Carbon, Structural, High-Strength Low-Alloy, High-Strength Low-Alloy with Improved Formability, Solution Hardened, and Bake Hardenable
• ASTM A1011/1011M Standard Specification for Steel, Sheet and Strip, Hot-Rolled, Carbon, Structural, High-Strength Low-Alloy, High-Strength Low-Alloy with Improved Formability, and Ultra-High Strength
• ASTM A1040 Standard Guide for Specifying Harmonized Standard Grade Compositions for Wrought Carbon, Low-Alloy, and Alloy Steels
• ASTM A1061/A1061M Standard Test Methods for Testing Multi-Wire Steel Prestressing Strand
• ASTM A1064/A1064M Standard Specification for Carbon-Steel Wire and Welded Wire Reinforcement, Plain and Deformed, for Concrete
• ASTM E23 Standard Test Methods for Notched Bar Impact Testing of Metallic Materials
• ASTM E6 Standard Terminology Relating to Methods of Mechanical Testing
• ASTM E8/E8M Standard Test Methods for Tension Testing of Metallic Materials

Fee Includes

• Referenced ASTM standards and course notes

About the Instructor

John E. Bringas, P.Eng. is the President and Founder of Codes and Standards Training Institute (CASTI). He is a professional engineer who has practiced metallurgical and materials engineering, and inspection since 1975. He has also been certified as an API 510, 570, 653, 571, 577, and 580 inspector, an AWS Certified Welding Inspector, an Alberta In-Service Pressure Vessel Inspector and Welding Examiner, and CGSB certified NDE examiner in UT and RT. He is a long-time committee member of ASTM A01 Steels, A05 Coated Steels, B02 Nonferrous Alloys, E04 Metallography, E28 Mechanical Testing, F42 Additive Manufacturing, J01 ASTM/NACE Committee on Corrosion, NACE STG 31 Oil and Gas Production—Corrosion and Scale Inhibition, STG 32 Oil and Gas Production-Metallurgy, STG 34 Petroleum Refining and Gas Processing, STG 35 Pipelines, Tanks, and Well Casings, STG 39 Process Industries—Materials Applications and Experiences, and past Canadian Representative on ISO TC 17-SC 4 (Steels). He is the author of the ASTM Handbook of Comparative World Steel Standards, ASTM Handbook of Steel Data: American and European, ASTM Passport to Steel Database, and the CASTI Metals Data Books. Mr. Bringas has engineering work experience in the steel making, foundry, consulting (failure analysis), inspection, NDE, refinery, pipeline, and petrochemical industries.

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How Learning Will Be Assessed

Learning will be assessed through discussions. Participants are expected to ask questions if an issue is unclear to them.

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