This group of ASTM standard specifications covers a common requirements that, unless otherwise specified in the material specification, apply to rolled steel plates, shapes, sheet piling, and bars under each of the following specifications issued by ASTM.

ASTM Designation	Title of Specification
A 36/A 36M	Structural Steel
A 131/A 131 M	Structural Steel for Ships
A 242/A 242 M	High-Strength Low-Alloy Structural Steel
A 283/A 283 M	Low and Intermediate Tensile Strength Carbon Steel Plates, Shapes, and Bars
A 284/A 284 M	Low and Intermediate Tensile Strength Carbon-Silicon Steel Plates for Machine Parts and General Construction
A 328/A 328 M	Steel Sheet Piling
A 441/A 443 M	High-Strength Low-Alloy Structural Manganese Vanadium Steel
A 514/A 514 M	High-Yield Strength, Quenched and Tempered Alloy Steel Plate Suitable for Welding
A 529/A 529 M	Structural Steel with 42 000 psi {290 MPa) Minimum Yield Point (12.7 mm Maximum Thickness)
A 572/A 572 M	High-Strength Low-Alloy Columbium-Vanadium Steels of Structural Quality
A 573/A 573 M	Structural Carbon Steel Plates of Improved Toughness
A 588/A 588 M	High-Strength Low-Alloy Structural Steel with 50 ksi (345 MPa) Minimum Yield Point to 4 in. Thick
A 633/A 633 M	Normalized High-Strength Low-Alloy Structural Steel
A 656/A 656 M	Hot-Rolled Structural Steel, High-Strength Low-Alloy Plate with Improved Formability
A 678/A 678 M	Quenched and Tempered Carbon Steel Plates for Structural Applications
A 690/A 690 M	High-Strength Low-Alloy Steel H-Piles and Sheet Piling for Use in Marine Environments
A 699	Low-Carbon Manganese-Molybdenum-Columbium Alloy Steel Plates, Shapes, and Bars
A 709	Structural Steel for Bridges
A710/A710 M	Low-Carbon Age-Hardening Nickel-Copper-Chromium-Molybdenum-Columbium and Nickel-Copper-Columbium Alloy Steels
A 769	Electric Resistance Welded Steel Shapes
A 786/A 786 M	Rolled Steel Floor Plates
A 808/A 808 M	High-Strength Low-Alloy Carbon, Manganese, Columbium, Vanadium Steel of Structural Quality with Improved Notch Toughness
A 827	Plates, Carbon Steel, for Forging and Similar Applications
A 829	Plates, Alloy Steel, Structural Quality
A 830	Plates, Carbon Steel, Structural Quality, Furnished to Chemical Composition Requirements

Descriptions of Terms Specific to This Standard
Plates (other than floor plates or coiled product) - Flat hot-rolled steel classified as follows:

When ordered to thickness:

* Over 200 mm in width and over 6 mm or over in thickness.
* Over 1200 mm in width and over 4.5 mm or over in thickness.

When ordered to weight:

* Over 200 mm in width and 47.1 kg/m2 or heavier.
* Over 1200 mm in width and 35.3 kg/m2 or heavier.

Slabs, sheet bars, and skelp, though frequently falling in the foregoing size ranges, are not classed as plates. Coiled product is excluded from qualification to this specification until cut to length.

Structural-Size Shapes - Rolled flanged sections having at least one dimension of the cross section 75 mm or greater.
Bar Size Shapes - Rolled flanged sections having a maximum dimension of the cross section less than 75 mm.

"W"Shapes are doubly-symmetric wide-flange shapes used as beams or columns whose inside flange surfaces are substantially parallel. A shape having essentially the same nominal weight and dimensions as a "W" shape but whose inside flange surfaces are not parallel may also be considered a "W" shape having the same nomenclature, provided its average flange thickness is essentially the same as the flange thickness of the "W" shape.

"HP"Shapes are wide-flange shapes generally used as bearing piles whose flanges and. webs are of the same nominal thickness and whose depth and width are essentially the same.

"S"Shapes are doubly-symmetric shapes produced in accordance with dimensional standards adopted in 1896 by the Association of American Steel Manufacturers for American Standard beam shapes.

"M" Shapes are doubly-symmetric shapes that cannot be classified as "W," "S," or "HP" shapes.

"C" Shapes are channels produced in accordance with dimensional standards adopted in 1896 by the Association of American Steel Manufacturers for American Standard channels.

"MC" Shapes are channels that cannot be classified as "C" shapes.

"L" Shapes are equal-leg and unequal-leg angles.

Sheet Piling - Steel sheet piling consists of rolled sections that can be interlocked, forming a continuous wall when individual pieces are driven side by side.

Bars - Rounds, squares, and hexagons, of all sizes; flats over 5 mm and over in specified thickness, not over 150 mm in specified width; and flats over 6 mm in specified thickness, over 150 to 200 mm incl, in specified width.

Exclusive - When used in relation to ranges, as for ranges of thickness in the tables of permissible variations in dimensions, the term is intended to exclude only the greater value of the range.

Rimmed Steel - Steel containing sufficient oxygen to give a continuous evolution of carbon monoxide while the ingot is solidifying, resulting in a case or rim of metal virtually free of voids.

Semi-killed Steel - Incompletely deoxidized steel containing sufficient oxygen to form enough carbon monoxide during solidification to offset solidification shrinkage.

Capped Steel - Rimmed steel in which the rimming action is limited by an early capping operation. Capping may be carried out mechanically by using a heavy metal cap on a bottle-top mold or it may be carried out chemically by an addition of aluminum or ferrosilicon to the top of the molten steel in an open-top mold.

Killed Steel - Steel deoxidized, either by addition of strong deoxidizing agents or by vacuum treatment, to reduce the oxygen content to such a level that no reaction occurs between carbon and oxygen during solidification.

Groupings for Tensile Properly Classification - In some of the material specifications, the tensile property requirements vary for different sizes of shapes due to mass effect, etc. For the convenience of those using the specifications, the various sizes of shapes have been divided into groups based on section thickness at the standard tension test location (webs of beams, channels, and zees; legs of angles; and stems of tees).

Mill Edge - The normal edge produced by rolling between horizontal finishing rolls. A mill edge does not conform to any definite contour. Mill edge plates have two mill edges and two trimmed edges.

Universal Mill Edge - The normal edge produced by rolling between horizontal and vertical finishing rolls. Universal mill plates, sometimes designated UM Plates, have two universal mill edges and two trimmed edges.

Sheared Edge - The normal edge produced by shearing. Sheared edge plates are trimmed on all edges.

Gas Cut Edge - The edge produced by gas flame cutting.

Special Cut Edge - Usually the edge produced by gas flame cutting involving special practices such as pre-heating or post-heating, or both, in order to minimize stresses, avoid thermal cracking and reduce the hardness of the gas cut edge. In special instances, special cut edge may be used to designate an edge produced by machining.

Sketch - When used to describe a form of plate, denotes a plate other than rectangular, circular, or semi-circular. Sketch plates may be furnished to a radius or with four or more straight sides.

Manufacture
Unless otherwise specified in the material specification, the steel shall be made by the open-hearth, basic-oxygen, or electric-furnace process. Additional refining by vacuum-arc-remelt (VAR) or electroslag-remelt (ESR) is permitted.

Plates are produced in either discrete cut lengths of flat product or from coils.

Plates produced from coil means plates that have been cut to individual lengths from a coiled product and are furnished without heat treatment. For the purposes of this paragraph, stress relieving is not considered to be a heat treatment.
Heat Treatment
When material is required to be heat treated, the heat treatment may be performed either by the manufacturer, processor, or fabricator unless otherwise specified in the material specification.

When heat treatment is to be performed by the manufacturer or processor, the material shall be heat treated as specified in the material specification. The purchaser may specify the heat treatment to be used provided it is not in conflict with the requirements of the material specification.

When normalizing is to be performed by the fabricator, it may be accomplished by heating uniformly for hot forming. The temperature to which the plates are heated for hot forming shall not significantly exceed the normalizing temperature.

When no heat treatment is required, the manufacturer or processor may, at his option, heat treat the plates by normalizing, stress relieving, or normalizing and then stress relieving to meet the material specification.

If approved by the purchaser, cooling rates faster than those obtained by cooling in air are permissible for improvement of the toughness, provided the plates are subsequently tempered in the temperature range from 595 to 705°C.
Chemical Analysis
An analysis of each heat shall be made by the manufacturer to determine the percentage of carbon, manganese, phosphorus, sulfur, and any other elements specified or restricted by the applicable specification. This analysis shall be made from a test sample preferably taken during the pouring of the heat.

When vacuum-arc-remelting or electroslag remelting is used, a heat is defined as all the ingots remelted from a single primary melt. The heat analysis shall be obtained from one remelted ingot, or the product of one remelted ingot, of each primary melt providing the heat analysis of the primary melt meets the heat analysis requirements of the material specification. If the heat analysis of the primary melt does not meet the heat analysis requirements of the material specification, one test sample shall be taken from the product of each remelted ingot. In either case, the analyses so obtained from the remelted material shall conform to the heat analysis requirements of the applicable specification.
Metallurgical Structure
When a fine austenitic grain size is specified, the steel shall have a grain size number of 5 or finer as determined by the McQuaid-Ehn test. Determination shall be in accordance with Plate IV of Methods E 112, by carburizing for 8 h at 925°C. Conformance to this grain size of 70 % of the grains in the area examined shall constitute the basis of acceptance. One test per heat shall be made.