ASTM Standards: Stainless Steels

About the Course

This two day course is designed to teach the basics of stainless 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 categorize stainless steels as being austenitic, ferritic, martensitic, duplex, and precipitation hardening, as defined and used in ASTM steel specifications
• Explain the roles of chemical elements in stainless steels for corrosion resistance and heat resistance applications
• Recognize the different types of ASTM stainless steel standard specifications, practices, test methods, guides, terminology, and their functions
• Distinguish how ASTM stainless steel specifications and grade designations differ or are similar to others, like AISI, UNS, ASME, SAE, EN, etc.
• Identify common ordering information required by ASTM stainless steel standards, e.g., condition, finish, dimensions, grade or UNS designation, specification designation and date of issue, etc.
• Associate each ASTM stainless steel product specification with its general requirements specification
• Navigate ASTM stainless steel standards to identify mandatory, nonmandatory, purchaser selected supplementary requirements, and any additional purchaser requirements;
• Distinguish how ASTM stainless steel standards differ with varying wrought product forms (e.g., plate/sheet/strip, pipe, shapes, forgings, etc.)
• 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 stainless steels and why they may need to be modified for specific stainless steel properties.

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 the 5 categories of stainless steel defined and used in ASTM steel standards? (Austenitic, ferritic, martensitic, duplex, and precipitation hardening stainless steels.)
• What are the different types of ASTM stainless steel standards available to assist with purchasing and specifying? (ASTM standard specifications, practices, test methods, guides, terminology, and their functions specifically for stainless steels.)
• How are ASTM stainless steel product specifications and grades designated and how do they differ from other designation systems like AISI, ASME, SAE, and others?
• What are a stainless steel heat, heat analysis, heat number, steel lot, and product analysis, as defined in ASTM steel standards?
• How are stainless steels uniquely different for corrosion resistance and heat resistance applications, and how do ASTM stainless steel standards address these applications?
• What are the roles of common chemical elements in each of the 5 categories of stainless steels and how do they differ between corrosion resistance and heat resistance applications?
• Why do some chemical elements have requirements specified as a minimum value, maximum value, or minimum-maximum range value?
• What are the different stainless steel condition and heat treatment requirements specified in ASTM standards?
• How and why are stainless steel finish requirements specified in ASTM standards?
• How are NDE, pressure testing, and other QC testing requirements specified in ASTM stainless steel standards?
• How and why product sizes, dimensional limits, and tolerance requirements are specified in in ASTM stainless steel standards?
• 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 products required to be marked and certified in accordance with ASTM stainless steel standards, including multiple marking?

ASTM Standards Referenced

This course references the following ASTM Standards:

• A565/A565M Specification for Martensitic Stainless Steel Bars for High-Temperature Service
• A580/A580M Specification for Stainless Steel Wire
• A581/A581M Specification for Free-Machining Stainless Steel Wire and Wire Rods
• A582/A582M Specification for Free-Machining Stainless Steel Bars
• A632-19 Standard Specification for Seamless and Welded Austenitic Stainless Steel Tubing (Small-Diameter) for General Service
• A638/A638M-20 Standard Specification for Precipitation Hardening Iron Base Superalloy Bars, Forgings, and Forging Stock for High-Temperature Service
• A666 Specification for Annealed or Cold-Worked Austenitic Stainless Steel Sheet, Strip, Plate, and Flat Bar
• A693 Specification for Precipitation-Hardening Stainless and Heat-Resisting Steel Plate, Sheet, and Strip
• A688/A688M-18 Standard Specification for Seamless and Welded Austenitic Stainless Steel Feedwater Heater Tubes
• A700 Guide for Packaging, Marking, and Loading Methods for Steel Products for Shipment
• A705/A705M Specification for Age-Hardening Stainless Steel Forgings
• A751 Test Methods, Practices, and Terminology for Chemical Analysis of Steel Products
• A763 Practices for Detecting Susceptibility to Intergranular Attack in Ferritic Stainless Steels
• A778/A778M-16(2021) Standard Specification for Welded, Unannealed Austenitic Stainless Steel Tubular Products
• A788/A788M Specification for Steel Forgings, General Requirements
• A895 Specification for Free-Machining Stainless Steel Plate,
• A923 Test Methods for Detecting Detrimental Intermetallic Phase in Duplex Austenitic/Ferritic Stainless Steels
• A959 Standard Guide for Specifying Harmonized Standard Grade Compositions for Wrought Stainless Steels
• A999/A999M Specification for General Requirements for Alloy and Stainless Steel Pipe
• A1012 Specification for Seamless and Welded Ferritic, Austenitic and Duplex Alloy Steel Condenser and Heat Exchanger Tubes With Integral Fins
• A1016/A1016M Specification for General Requirements for Ferritic Alloy Steel, Austenitic Alloy Steel, and Stainless Steel Tubes
• A1021/A1021M Martensitic Stainless Steel Forgings and Forging Stock for High-Temperature Service
• A1049/A1049M Stainless Steel Forgings, Ferritic/Austenitic (Duplex), for Pressure Vessels and Related Components
• A1053/A1053M Specification for Welded Ferritic-Martensitic Stainless Steel Pipe
• A1098/A1098M Specification for Welded Austenitic, Ferritic, Martensitic and Duplex Stainless Steel Boiler, Superheater, Condenser, and Heat Exchanger Tubes with Textured Surface(s)
• E112 Test Methods for Determining Average Grain Size
• E140 Hardness Conversion Tables for Metals
• E527 Practice for Numbering Metals and Alloys in the Unified Numbering System (UNS)

Fee Includes

• Referenced ASTM standards and course notes

About the Instructor

Dr. John Grubb, P.E., PhD, received his B. S. from Lehigh University, M.S. and Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. He has over 40 years' experience with corrosion-resistant alloys. His primary areas of expertise are in materials environmental resistance, behavior, and applications. He is the author of more than 50 published technical papers as well as several handbook chapters, including the CASTI Handbook of Stainless Steels and Nickel Alloys and AWS Welding Handbook, Vol. 4. Dr. Grubb is retired from ATI Flat Rolled Products (formerly Allegheny Ludlum) and is a practicing metallurgical engineer. He is co-inventor of several patented corrosion-resistant alloys.

Dr. Grubb is a member of 11 ASTM Technical Subcommittees, including the ASTM A01.17 Flat Rolled and Wrought Stainless Steels Subcommittee Chair, A01.13 Mechanical and Chemical Testing and Processing Methods of Steel Products, A01.14 Methods of Corrosion Testing, B02.07 Nickel Alloys, G01.05 Laboratory Corrosion, NACE/ASTM J01 Joint Committee on Corrosion. Dr. Grubb is also an Advisor on AWS D1.6/D1.6M Structural Welding Code – Stainless Steel, and past member of several NACE (AMPP) technical committees.

Dr. Grubb is the current ASME BPVC Section II (Materials), Committee Vice-Chair and Working-Group on Data Analysis, Chair. He is also an active member of ASME BPVC Section II, Sub-Groups on External Pressure, Ferrous Specifications, Physical Properties, and Non-Ferrous Alloys. Dr. Grubb is a Fellow of ASM International (formerly American Society for Metals).

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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