ASTM specifications represent a consensus among producers, specifiers, fabricators, and users of steel mill products. ASTM’s designation system for metals consists of a letter (A for ferrous materials) followed by an arbitrary sequentially assigned number. These designations often apply to specific products, for example, A548 is applicable to cold-heading quality carbon steel wire for tapping or sheet metal screws.

Steel standards are instrumental in classifying, evaluating, and specifying the material, chemical, mechanical, and metallurgical properties of the different types of steels, which are primarily used in the production of mechanical components, industrial parts, and construction elements. The most widely used standard specifications for steel products in the United States are those published by ASTM (American Society for Testing and Materials).

ASTM specifications represent a consensus among producers, specifiers, fabricators, and users of steel mill products. In many cases, the dimensions, tolerances, limits, and restrictions in the ASTM specifications are similar to or the same as the corresponding items in the standard practices contained in the AISI Steel Products Manuals.

Many of the ASTM specifications have been adopted by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) with little or no modification; ASME uses the prefix S and the ASTM designation for these specifications. For example, ASME-SA213 and ASTM A 213 are identical.

ASTM’s designation system for metals consists of a letter (A for ferrous materials) followed by an arbitrary sequentially assigned number. These designations often apply to specific products, for example A548 is applicable to cold-heading quality carbon steel wire for tapping or sheet metal screws. Metric ASTM standards have a suffix letter M.