Alloy steels comprise a wide variety of steels which have compositions that exceed the

limitations of C, Mn, Ni, Mo, Cr, Va, Si, and B which have been set for carbon steels. However,
steels containing more than 3.99% chromium are classified differently as stainless and tool
steels.
Alloy steels are always killed, but can use unique deoxidization or melting processes for
specific applications. Alloy steels are generally more responsive to heat and mechanical
treatments than carbon steels.

AISI Designation
Typically, alloy steels are designated by distinct AISI (American Iron and Steel Institute)
four-digit numbers. The first two digits indicate the leading alloying elements, while the last
two digits give the nominal carbon content of the alloy in hundredths of a percent.
Occasionally we see five-digit designations where the last three digits tell that the carbon is
actually over 1%. Here is an example:
XXX :x.xx% average carbon content
51 100
13 xx:1.75Mn

Manganese

23 xx:3.50Ni

Nickel

31 xx:1.25Ni, 0.65-0.80Cr

Nickel-Chromium

40 xx:0.20-0.25Mo
44 xx:0.40-0.52Mo
41 xx:0.50-0.95Cr, 0.12-0.30Mo
46 xx:0.85-1.82Ni, 0.20-0.25Mo
48 xx:3.5Ni, 0.25Mo

Molybdenum
Chromium-Molybdenum
Nickel-Molybdenum

50 xx:0.27-0.65Cr
51 xx:0.80-1.05Cr
50 xxx:0.50Cr, 1.00C

Chromium

51 xxx:1.02Cr, 1.00C
52 xxx:1.45Cr, 1.00C
61 xx:0.60-0.95Cr, 0.10-0.15V

Chromium-Vanadium

92 xx:1.4-2Si, 0.65-0.85Mn, <0.65Cr Silicon-Manganese

43 xx:1.82Ni, 0.50-0.80Cr, 0.25Mo
47 xx:1.05Ni, 0.45Cr, 0.20-0.35Mo
81 xx:0.30Ni, 0.40Cr, 0.12Mo
86 xx:0.55Ni, 0.50Cr, 0.25Mo
87 xx:0.55Ni, 0.50Cr, 0.25Mo
88 xx:0.55Ni, 0.50Cr, 0.20-0.35Mo
93 xx:3.25Ni, 1.20Cr, 0.12Mo

Nickel-Chromium-Molybdenum

94 xx:0.45Ni, 0.40Cr, 0.12Mo

If a B shows up between the second and third digits of an AISI number, it means that this
grade is a Boron steel; Sometimes a suffix H is attached to a AISI number to indicate that the
steel has been produced to prescribed hardenability limits

General Properties of Steels

The following table lists the typical properties of steels at room temperature (25C). The wide
ranges of ultimate tensile strength, yield strength, and hardness are largely due to different
heat treatment conditions.
Properties

Carbon
Steels

Alloy
Steels

Stainless
Steels

Tool
Steels

Density (1000 kg/m3)

7.85

7.85

7.75-8.1

7.72-8.0

Elastic Modulus (GPa)

190-210

190-210

190-210

190-210

Poisson's Ratio

0.27-0.3

0.27-0.3

0.27-0.3

0.27-0.3

Thermal Expansion (10-6/K)

11-16.6

9.0-15

9.0-20.7

9.4-15.1

Melting Point (C)

1371-1454

Thermal Conductivity (W/m-K)

24.3-65.2

26-48.6

11.2-36.7

19.9-48.3

Specific Heat (J/kg-K)

450-2081

452-1499

420-500

Electrical Resistivity (10-9-m)

130-1250

210-1251

75.7-1020

Tensile Strength (MPa)

276-1882

758-1882

515-827

640-2000

Yield Strength (MPa)

186-758

366-1793

207-552

380-440

Percent Elongation (%)

10-32

4-31

12-40

5-25

Hardness (Brinell 3000kg)

86-388

149-627

137-595

210-620

Classification of Carbon and Low-Alloy Steels

Abstract:
The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) defines carbon steel as follows:Steel is considered to be
carbon steel when no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt, columbium
[niobium], molybdenum, nickel, titanium, tungsten, vanadium or zirconium, or any other element to be
added to obtain a desired alloying effect; when the specified minimum for copper does not exceed 0.40
per cent; or when the maximum content specified for any of the following elements does not exceed the

percentages noted: manganese 1.65, silicon 0.60, copper 0.60.

Steels can be classified by a variety of different systems depending on:

The composition, such as carbon, low-alloy or stainless steel.

The manufacturing methods, such as open hearth, basic oxygen process, or
electric furnace methods.
The finishing method, such as hot rolling or cold rolling
The product form, such as bar plate, sheet, strip, tubing or structural shape
The deoxidation practice, such as killed, semi-killed, capped or rimmed steel
The microstructure, such as ferritic, pearlitic and martensitic
The required strength level, as specified in ASTM standards
The heat treatment, such as annealing, quenching and tempering, and
thermomechanical processing
Quality descriptors, such as forging quality and commercial quality.

Carbon Steels
The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) defines carbon steel as follows:

Steel is considered to be carbon steel when no minimum content is specified or

required for chromium, cobalt, columbium [niobium], molybdenum, nickel,
titanium, tungsten, vanadium or zirconium, or any other element to be added to
obtain a desired alloying effect; when the specified minimum for copper does not
exceed 0.40 per cent; or when the maximum content specified for any of the
following elements does not exceed the percentages noted: manganese 1.65,
silicon 0.60, copper 0.60.
Carbon steel can be classified, according to various deoxidation practices, as
rimmed, capped, semi-killed, or killed steel. Deoxidation practice and the
steelmaking process will have an effect on the properties of the steel. However,
variations in carbon have the greatest effect on mechanical properties, with
increasing carbon content leading to increased hardness and strength. As such,
carbon steels are generally categorized according to their carbon content.
Generally speaking, carbon steels contain up to 2% total alloying elements and
can be subdivided into low-carbon steels, medium-carbon steels, high-carbon
steels, and ultrahigh-carbon steels; each of these designations is discussed
below.
As a group, carbon steels are by far the most frequently used steels. More than
85% of the steel produced and shipped in the United States is carbon steel.
Low-carbon steels contain up to 0.30% C. The largest category of this class of
steel is flat-rolled products (sheet or strip), usually in the cold-rolled and annealed
condition. The carbon content for these high-formability steels is very low, less
than 0.10% C, with up to 0.4% Mn. Typical uses are in automobile body panels,
tin plate, and wire products.
For rolled steel structural plates and sections, the carbon content may be
increased to approximately 0.30%, with higher manganese content up to 1.5%.
These materials may be used for stampings, forgings, seamless tubes, and boiler
plate.
Medium-carbon steels are similar to low-carbon steels except that the carbon
ranges from 0.30 to 0.60% and the manganese from 0.60 to 1.65%. Increasing

the carbon content to approximately 0.5% with an accompanying increase in

manganese allows medium carbon steels to be used in the quenched and
tempered condition. The uses of medium carbon-manganese steels include
shafts, axles, gears, crankshafts, couplings and forgings. Steels in the 0.40 to
0.60% C range are also used for rails, railway wheels and rail axles.
High-carbon steels contain from 0.60 to 1.00% C with manganese contents
ranging from 0.30 to 0.90%. High-carbon steels are used for spring materials and
high-strength wires.
Ultrahigh-carbon steels are experimental alloys containing 1.25 to 2.0% C. These
steels are thermomechanically processed to produce microstructures that consist
of ultrafine, equiaxed grains of spherical, discontinuous proeutectoid carbide
particles.
High-Strength Low-Alloy Steels
High-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steels, or microalloyed steels, are designed to
provide better mechanical properties and/or greater resistance to atmospheric
corrosion than conventional carbon steels in the normal sense because they are
designed to meet specific mechanical properties rather than a chemical composition.

The HSLA steels have low carbon contents (0.05-0.25% C) in order to produce
adequate formability and weldability, and they have manganese contents up to
2.0%. Small quantities of chromium, nickel, molybdenum, copper, nitrogen,
vanadium, niobium, titanium and zirconium are used in various combinations.
HSLA Classification:

Weathering steels, designated to exhibit superior atmospheric corrosion

resistance
Control-rolled steels, hot rolled according to a predetermined rolling schedule,
designed to develop a highly deformed austenite structure that will transform
to a very fine equiaxed ferrite structure on cooling
Pearlite-reduced steels, strengthened by very fine-grain ferrite and
precipitation hardening but with low carbon content and therefore little or no
pearlite in the microstructure
Microalloyed steels, with very small additions of such elements as niobium,
vanadium, and/or titanium for refinement of grain size and/or precipitation
hardening
Acicular ferrite steel, very low carbon steels with sufficient hardenability to
transform on cooling to a very fine high-strength acicular ferrite structure
rather than the usual polygonal ferrite structure

Dual-phase steels, processed to a micro-structure of ferrite containing small

uniformly distributed regions of high-carbon martensite, resulting in a product
with low yield strength and a high rate of work hardening, thus providing a
high-strength steel of superior formability.

The various types of HSLA steels may also have small additions of calcium, rare
earth elements, or zirconium for sulfide inclusion shape control.

Low-alloy Steels
Low-alloy steels constitute a category of ferrous materials that exhibit mechanical
properties superior to plain carbon steels as the result of additions of alloying
elements such as nickel, chromium, and molybdenum. Total alloy content can range
from 2.07% up to levels just below that of stainless steels, which contain a minimum
of 10% Cr.

For many low-alloy steels, the primary function of the alloying elements is to
increase hardenability in order to optimize mechanical properties and toughness
after heat treatment. In some cases, however, alloy additions are used to reduce
environmental degradation under certain specified service conditions.
As with steels in general, low-alloy steels can be classified according to:

Chemical composition, such as nickel steels, nickel-chromium steels,

molybdenum steels, chromium-molybdenum steels
Heat treatment, such as quenched and tempered, normalized and tempered,
annealed.

Because of the wide variety of chemical compositions possible and the fact that
some steels are used in more than one heat-treated, condition, some overlap
exists among the alloy steel classifications. In this article, four major groups of
alloy steels are addressed: (1) low-carbon quenched and tempered (QT) steels,
(2) medium-carbon ultrahigh-strength steels, (3) bearing steels, and (4) heatresistant chromium-molybdenum steels.
Low-carbon quenched and tempered steels combine high yield strength (from
350 to 1035 MPa) and high tensile strength with good notch toughness, ductility,
corrosion resistance, or weldability. The various steels have different
combinations of these characteristics based on their intended applications.
However, a few steels, such as HY-80 and HY-100, are covered by military
specifications. The steels listed are used primarily as plate. Some of these steels,
as well as other, similar steels, are produced as forgings or castings.

Medium-carbon ultrahigh-strength steels are structural steels with yield strengths

that can exceed 1380 MPa. Many of these steels are covered by SAE/AISI
designations or are proprietary compositions. Product forms include billet, bar,
rod, forgings, sheet, tubing, and welding wire.
Bearing steels used for ball and roller bearing applications are comprised of low
carbon (0.10 to 0.20% C) case-hardened steels and high carbon (-1.0% C)
through-hardened steels. Many of these steels are covered by SAE/AISI
designations.
Chromium-molybdenum heat-resistant steels contain 0.5 to 9% Cr and 0.5 to
1.0% Mo. The carbon content is usually below 0.2%. The chromium provides
improved oxidation and corrosion resistance, and the molybdenum increases
strength at elevated temperatures. They are generally supplied in the normalized
and tempered, quenched and tempered or annealed condition. Chromiummolybdenum steels are widely used in the oil and gas industries and in fossil fuel
and nuclear power plants.
Specifications, Codes and Certification :

Indian Boiler Regulations (IBR) - 1950 and its amendments to date.

ASME CODE, TEMA, BS, ASTM, API, DIN GOST, JIS, IS And Other International Standard
Specification.
ASME
Pressure
Vessels
Code
TEMA
Class
'R'
BS - 3059 Part I & II Grade 320, 360, 440, 620, 622
ASTM
A - 106 Grade A, B, C; A - 210 Grade A1, C; A - 213 / A - 335 - Grade P1, P2, P11, P12, P22, P5
A - 179 / A192 / A178 / A333 - Grade 1 or 6; A - 312 - TP304, 304L, 316, 316L, 321, 310; A105,
A182, A234 - WPB, WP1, WP11, WP12, WP5; A350LF2, A420WPL6
AP1
5L
Grade
A,
B,
upto
DIN
17175
ST.35.8,
45.8,
15
M03,
13GRM044,
DIN
2391,
2448,
ANSI
36.10,
16.5,
16.9,
MSS
SP
NACE
Also equivalents in GOST, JIS, NF and other International Standard Specification

Material Test Certificates as per ISO

X52
10GRM0910
1629
16.11
45

Power Plants
Coal
burner
nozzles
The heart of tribology experimentation in a coal-based thermal power plant is a coal burner nozzle made
sometimes of creep resistant steels and more frequently 310-grade stainless steel. It operates at a
temperature of 650-750 C where fine coal dust at high velocity is injected through it. The fine coal particles
continuously collide with the wall of the nozzle and the deflector plates resulting in excessive erosion.
Resistance by surfacing is possible but the alloy selection is critical. It has to retain hardness upto 850 C and
even at that high temperature the dispersion of secondary Niobium carbides should not dissolve with the
matrix which should have secondary hardening property. The matrix should provide the carbides with
enough bond strength. Only ESABs "pre-formed, super-alloyed", complex carbides have proven successful
against any other available alloy system.
Ball
Mill
Liners
The chromium carbide liners of ball mill can be replaced by ESABs Micro_C wear plates and Tube_C wear
plates. This change increases life of resulting less frequent replacement and lower operation cost.
Ball
Mill
head
Cast iron mill head cracks have successfully been repaired with ESABs high strength cast iron premium
electrode OK 92.60.
Coal
crusher
Crusher jaws, hammers of manganese steel are subject to maximum wear out in the initial period while they
are soft and yet to work-harden. ESABs Cobalarc bonds indistinguishably with manganese steel and ensures
protection for this virgin hammers. Old worn out hammers can also be reclaimed and reused.
Steam
valve
seats
ESAB recommends cobalt base
customized alloys for steam
valve seats, for cavitation,
friction
and
corrosion
resistance.
For
reclaiming
worn out valves ESABs "Hot
metal spray powders" are used
for precision coating.
Ash
handling
Fine ash at ambient temperature is extremely erosive. Ordinary carbide deposits fail to protect components
as the ash granules reach the matrix in inter-carbide space and scoop out the carbides. Micro C plates of
ESAB in combination with micro-carbide cored wires are the only solution for ash plant erosive wear.
Boiler
tubes
and
turbine
Inconel grades and other nickel core alloys are used for joining, crack repair and build up.
Hydro
turbine
Pelton
wheels
ESAB has developed patented
cored wires for surfacing,
joining and building up Pelton
wheels to size. The process
involves
extensive
microalloying
to
attain
high
cavitation resistance.

blades

Nuclear
power
plant
equipments
ESABs spcialised consumable cell manufactures Nuclear reactor component welding / surfacing alloys with
ASME III and TUV certification.
Strip cladding by submerged arc process using ESAB's inconel strips yields high speed at high performance
level. Monel cladding and cupronickel cladding is also practised.

Classification of Carbon and Low-Alloy Steels

Abstract:
The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) defines carbon steel as follows:Steel is considered to be
carbon steel when no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt, columbium
[niobium], molybdenum, nickel, titanium, tungsten, vanadium or zirconium, or any other element to be
added to obtain a desired alloying effect; when the specified minimum for copper does not exceed 0.40
per cent; or when the maximum content specified for any of the following elements does not exceed the
percentages noted: manganese 1.65, silicon 0.60, copper 0.60.

Steels can be classified by a variety of different systems depending on:

The composition, such as carbon, low-alloy or stainless steel.

The manufacturing methods, such as open hearth, basic oxygen process, or
electric furnace methods.
The finishing method, such as hot rolling or cold rolling
The product form, such as bar plate, sheet, strip, tubing or structural shape
The deoxidation practice, such as killed, semi-killed, capped or rimmed steel
The microstructure, such as ferritic, pearlitic and martensitic
The required strength level, as specified in ASTM standards
The heat treatment, such as annealing, quenching and tempering, and
thermomechanical processing
Quality descriptors, such as forging quality and commercial quality.

Carbon Steels
The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) defines carbon steel as follows:

Steel is considered to be carbon steel when no minimum content is specified or

required for chromium, cobalt, columbium [niobium], molybdenum, nickel,
titanium, tungsten, vanadium or zirconium, or any other element to be added to
obtain a desired alloying effect; when the specified minimum for copper does not
exceed 0.40 per cent; or when the maximum content specified for any of the
following elements does not exceed the percentages noted: manganese 1.65,
silicon 0.60, copper 0.60.
Carbon steel can be classified, according to various deoxidation practices, as
rimmed, capped, semi-killed, or killed steel. Deoxidation practice and the

steelmaking process will have an effect on the properties of the steel. However,
variations in carbon have the greatest effect on mechanical properties, with
increasing carbon content leading to increased hardness and strength. As such,
carbon steels are generally categorized according to their carbon content.
Generally speaking, carbon steels contain up to 2% total alloying elements and
can be subdivided into low-carbon steels, medium-carbon steels, high-carbon
steels, and ultrahigh-carbon steels; each of these designations is discussed
below.
As a group, carbon steels are by far the most frequently used steels. More than
85% of the steel produced and shipped in the United States is carbon steel.
Low-carbon steels contain up to 0.30% C. The largest category of this class of
steel is flat-rolled products (sheet or strip), usually in the cold-rolled and annealed
condition. The carbon content for these high-formability steels is very low, less
than 0.10% C, with up to 0.4% Mn. Typical uses are in automobile body panels,
tin plate, and wire products.
For rolled steel structural plates and sections, the carbon content may be
increased to approximately 0.30%, with higher manganese content up to 1.5%.
These materials may be used for stampings, forgings, seamless tubes, and boiler
plate.
Medium-carbon steels are similar to low-carbon steels except that the carbon
ranges from 0.30 to 0.60% and the manganese from 0.60 to 1.65%. Increasing
the carbon content to approximately 0.5% with an accompanying increase in
manganese allows medium carbon steels to be used in the quenched and
tempered condition. The uses of medium carbon-manganese steels include
shafts, axles, gears, crankshafts, couplings and forgings. Steels in the 0.40 to
0.60% C range are also used for rails, railway wheels and rail axles.
High-carbon steels contain from 0.60 to 1.00% C with manganese contents
ranging from 0.30 to 0.90%. High-carbon steels are used for spring materials and
high-strength wires.

Ultrahigh-carbon steels are experimental alloys containing 1.25 to 2.0% C. These

steels are thermomechanically processed to produce microstructures that consist
of ultrafine, equiaxed grains of spherical, discontinuous proeutectoid carbide
particles.
High-Strength Low-Alloy Steels
High-strength low-alloy (HSLA) steels, or microalloyed steels, are designed to
provide better mechanical properties and/or greater resistance to atmospheric
corrosion than conventional carbon steels in the normal sense because they are
designed to meet specific mechanical properties rather than a chemical composition.

The HSLA steels have low carbon contents (0.05-0.25% C) in order to produce
adequate formability and weldability, and they have manganese contents up to
2.0%. Small quantities of chromium, nickel, molybdenum, copper, nitrogen,
vanadium, niobium, titanium and zirconium are used in various combinations.
HSLA Classification:

Weathering steels, designated to exhibit superior atmospheric corrosion

resistance
Control-rolled steels, hot rolled according to a predetermined rolling schedule,
designed to develop a highly deformed austenite structure that will transform
to a very fine equiaxed ferrite structure on cooling
Pearlite-reduced steels, strengthened by very fine-grain ferrite and
precipitation hardening but with low carbon content and therefore little or no
pearlite in the microstructure
Microalloyed steels, with very small additions of such elements as niobium,
vanadium, and/or titanium for refinement of grain size and/or precipitation
hardening
Acicular ferrite steel, very low carbon steels with sufficient hardenability to
transform on cooling to a very fine high-strength acicular ferrite structure
rather than the usual polygonal ferrite structure
Dual-phase steels, processed to a micro-structure of ferrite containing small
uniformly distributed regions of high-carbon martensite, resulting in a product
with low yield strength and a high rate of work hardening, thus providing a
high-strength steel of superior formability.

The various types of HSLA steels may also have small additions of calcium, rare
earth elements, or zirconium for sulfide inclusion shape control.

Low-alloy Steels
Low-alloy steels constitute a category of ferrous materials that exhibit mechanical
properties superior to plain carbon steels as the result of additions of alloying
elements such as nickel, chromium, and molybdenum. Total alloy content can range

from 2.07% up to levels just below that of stainless steels, which contain a minimum
of 10% Cr.

For many low-alloy steels, the primary function of the alloying elements is to
increase hardenability in order to optimize mechanical properties and toughness
after heat treatment. In some cases, however, alloy additions are used to reduce
environmental degradation under certain specified service conditions.
As with steels in general, low-alloy steels can be classified according to:

Chemical composition, such as nickel steels, nickel-chromium steels,

molybdenum steels, chromium-molybdenum steels
Heat treatment, such as quenched and tempered, normalized and tempered,
annealed.

Because of the wide variety of chemical compositions possible and the fact that
some steels are used in more than one heat-treated, condition, some overlap
exists among the alloy steel classifications. In this article, four major groups of
alloy steels are addressed: (1) low-carbon quenched and tempered (QT) steels,
(2) medium-carbon ultrahigh-strength steels, (3) bearing steels, and (4) heatresistant chromium-molybdenum steels.
Low-carbon quenched and tempered steels combine high yield strength (from
350 to 1035 MPa) and high tensile strength with good notch toughness, ductility,
corrosion resistance, or weldability. The various steels have different
combinations of these characteristics based on their intended applications.
However, a few steels, such as HY-80 and HY-100, are covered by military
specifications. The steels listed are used primarily as plate. Some of these steels,
as well as other, similar steels, are produced as forgings or castings.
Medium-carbon ultrahigh-strength steels are structural steels with yield strengths
that can exceed 1380 MPa. Many of these steels are covered by SAE/AISI
designations or are proprietary compositions. Product forms include billet, bar,
rod, forgings, sheet, tubing, and welding wire.
Bearing steels used for ball and roller bearing applications are comprised of low
carbon (0.10 to 0.20% C) case-hardened steels and high carbon (-1.0% C)
through-hardened steels. Many of these steels are covered by SAE/AISI
designations.

Chromium-molybdenum heat-resistant steels contain 0.5 to 9% Cr and 0.5 to

1.0% Mo. The carbon content is usually below 0.2%. The chromium provides
improved oxidation and corrosion resistance, and the molybdenum increases
strength at elevated temperatures. They are generally supplied in the normalized
and tempered, quenched and tempered or annealed condition. Chromiummolybdenum steels are widely used in the oil and gas industries and in fossil fuel
and nuclear power plants.