[TheForge] steel types

Thu Nov 20 08:37:01 2003

At 17:02 11/19/03, you wrote:
>Try this link:
>http://www.matweb.com/index.asp?ckck=1
>Search material type
>Pick your catagory.
>
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "jon.sloan" <[email protected]>
>To: "theforge" <[email protected]>
>Sent: Wednesday, November 19, 2003 4:35 PM
>Subject: [TheForge] steel types
>
>  Is there a rhyme or
> > reason for the numbers (the first is carbon %; second is chromium......)
> > Thanks.
> > Jon
> >

Jon,

Another good site is Principal Metals at http://www.principalmetals.com/

Is there a rhyme or reason for the nomenclature?   Well, sorta depends, but 
in general ... yes.

1018 ... 10 means iron ... 18 means 18 points (or 0.18%) carbon 
content.  So generally the last two digits tell you the carbon content, 
while the first two digits tell you something about the metals alloyed.

Some others, such as A36 are generalized standards of identity and tell you 
more about physical characteristics rather than composition.

Hope this helps some.

Dave Brown
Heritage Smithing
Green Bay, WI
ABANA, UMBA, GoM, MODA, ARG 