SAE AISI

Numbering Systems for Alloys

Ref:Engineering Materials
Propertieand Selection, K.G. Budinski
and M. K. Budinski, 7th ed., Prentice Hall,
2002 (Chap. 8 16)
How can you tell the others exactly
which kind of material you want?
Figure 1 (a) In a blast furnace,
iron ore is reduced using coke
(carbon) and air to produce liquid
pig iron. The high-carbon content
in the pig iron is reduce by
introducing oxygen into the basic
oxygen furnace to produce liquid
steel. An electric arc furnace can
be used to produce liquid steel by
melting scrap. (b) Schematic of a
blast furnace operation. (Source:
www.steel.org. Used with
permission of the American Iron
and Steel Institute.)
What do these codes mean?
AISI 1020 steel
ASTM A 29 grade 1020 steel
UNS G10200
SAE 1006

6061-T6
3003-H38
What You Should Include in the
Specifications of a Material ?
Description: e.g. steel, hot-finished, low-
carbon, bar, ASTM A29 grade B
Dimension
Chemical composition
Mechanical properties
Dimension tolerance: LWH, flatness, etc.
Finish: hot-rolled, cold rolled, patterned
Special requirements: heat treatment,
texture, etc.
Ferrous Alloys
 Features of the Fe - Fe3C Diagram

Austenite
Fe3C
Cementite
Ferrite
Some Specifications applicable to Steel
Products and other Metals
Specifications
SAE-AISI Society of Automotive Engineers
American Iron and Steel Institute
ASTM American Society for Testing and
(UNS) Materials ( www.astm.org )
ASME American Society of Mechanical
Engineers
MIL U.S. Department of Defense
AMS Aerospace Materials Specification
BS British Standards Institution
( http://www.bsi-global.com/index.xalter)
EN European Committee for
Standardization ( http:// www.cenorm.be
Classificati
ons of
Steel
The Most Widely Used System
for Designating Steels SAE-AISI
Unified Numbering System (UNS)
Developed by ASTM and
SAE
Not a specification but only
identify an alloy covered by
other standards
The 5 digits closely related
to the original identification
system. E.g. AISI 1020 =
G10200
Adopted by the Copper
Development Association as
official identification system
for Cu alloys
Most Frequently Used Carbon and
Alloy Steels in the US
SAE 1010: formed sheet-metal parts
SAE 1020: general machine applications
SAE 1040: flame- or induction-hardened
parts
ASTM A36: structural steel
SAE 4140: high-strength machine parts
SAE 4340: high-strength machine parts
SAE 8620: carburized wear parts
 Example
Design of Surface-Hardening Treatments
for a Drive Train
Design the materials and heat treatments for an automobile
axle and drive gear

Figure 1 Sketch
of axle and
gear assembly .
Tool Steel Categories
Tool Steel Types
High alloy content and thus high hardenability
Melted by electric furnace for cleanliness and
alloy content control
Melted in small heats and subjected to tight
quality control
Stainless Steel Family
Crucial Properties of Stainless Steels
A Repertoire of Stainless Steels
Type Uses
430 For rust resistance on decorative an
S43000 nonfunctional parts
416 Hardened to 30 HRC and use for jigs, fixtures
S41600 and base plates
420 Harden to 50-52 HRC for tools that do not
S42000 require high wear resistance (e.g. injection-
molding cavities, nozzles, holding blocks, etc)
440C Harden to 58-60 HRC for cutting devices,
S44004 punches and dies
A Repertoire of Stainless Steels
Type Uses

303 For fasteners and shafts where only rust or

S30300 splash and spill resistance are needed
304/L All types of chemical immersion
316/L All types of chemical immersion where 304 is
not adequate
17-4 PH High stress fasteners, shafting, agitators and
S17400 machine supports; age hardened
17-7 PH Harden to condition CH900 for chemical-
S17700 resistant springs
Aluminium Alloys
Wrought Aluminium Alloys Aluminum
Association designation system
Indicate the Al content
Major Alloying Elements Series
above 99%, e.g. 1040
Commercially pure aluminium (99%Almin)
has 99.40% 1000
Copper (major alloying element) 2000
Second digit designates
Manganese 3000
mill control on specific
Silicon elements 4000
Magnesium The last two digits 5000
have no significance,
Magnesium and silicon except 6000
Zinc 7000
Other elements 8000
Unused series 9000
Cast Aluminium Alloy Designations
Major Alloying Elements Series
Aluminium + silicon 1-99 (old system)
99.5 min. aluminium
The last digit indicates 1xx.x
product form: 0 for a
Copper casting, 1 for ingot
2xx.x
Silicon + copper or magnesium
form 3xx.x
Silicon 4xx.x
Magnesium 5xx.x
Unused series 6xx.x
Zinc 7xx.x
Tin 8xx.x
Other Element 9xx.x
Additional Designation of the
state of the Aluminium Alloy
Al alloys can be precipitation hardened
and work-hardened to different extents.
xxxx-F As fabricated, no special control
xxxx-W Solution heat-treated (used only on alloys
that naturally age harden)
xxxx-O Annealed (Wrought alloys only)
xxxx-H Strain hardened (cold worked to increase
strength), wrought alloys only
xxxx-T Thermally treated to produce effects other
than F, O, or H
Types of Strain Hardening and
thermal treatment
xxxx-H1 Strain hardened only

xxxx-H2 Strain hardened and partially

annealed
xxxx-H2 Strain hardened and stabilized by
low-temperature thermal
treatment
xxxx-H4 Strain hardened and lacquered or
painted
Degree of Strain Hardening
The second digit indicate the degree of strain
hardening
1 indicates smallest amount of cold-work and
8 indicates maximum of cold work
xxxx-H_2 Quarter-hard

xxxx-H_4 Half-hard

xxxx-H_6 Three-quarters hard

xxxx-H_8 Full-hard
Temper Designations
xxxx-T1 Cooled from a hot working temperature
and naturally aged
xxxx-T2 Cooled from an elevated temperature,
cold worked, and naturalled aged (means
annealed for cast products)
xxxx-T3 Furnace solution heat treated, quenched
and cold worked
xxxx-T4 Furnace solution heat treated, quenched,
and naturally aged
xxxx-T5 Quenched from a hot-work temperature
and furnace aged
Temper Designations
xxxx-T6 Furnace solution heat treated quenched
and furnace aged
xxxx-T7 Furnace solution heat treated and
stabilized
xxxx-T8 Furnace solution heat treated, quenched,
cold worked, and furnace aged
xxxx-T9 Furnace solution heat treated, quenched,
furnace aged and cold-worked
xxxx-T10 Quenched from an elevated temperature
shaping process, cold worked, and
furnace aged
Other variations can be denoted by adding more digits after
these designations
Examples

3003-H38: 3003 alloy cold finished

to full hard temper and stress
relieved by a low temperature
treatment

6061-T6: 6061 alloy, solution heat

treated and furnace aged hardened.
Most commonly used Aluminium alloys
Wrought alloys Sand Cast
1100 (pure Al) 355.0*
2024*
3003 Die Cast
5052 380.0
6061*
6063* *: can be age hardened

7075* Blue shaded: mainly for

aerospace applications
More to come

Steels and Al alloys are the

most widely used alloys
Other important classes are Cu
alloys, Mg alloys, Ni alloys and
Ti alloys, etc.
ASM Metals Handbook or ASTM
yearbooks are always good places
to start when looking for the
alloys information
Thank You!!
Discussions?