Glossary of Steel Terms

Steel Terms Explained.

Below we list some of the most common steel terms and explain what they mean.

AISI Abbreviation for the American Iron and Steel Institute.

Alloy Two or more chemical elements, of which one at least

is metal.

Alloy Steel A steel containing more than one alloying element.

Annealing A process to soften steel and remove any stresses.

The process usually involves heating the steel in a
furnace and allowing to cool slowly.

ASTM Abbreviation for the American Society for Testing and

Materials, now known as ASTM International.

Austenitic A range of stainless steels which have austenite as

their primary phase, with a face centred cubic crystal
structure. Commonly these are 18/8 stainless steel
types with an average composition of 18% chromium
and 8% nickel.

Bar Steel is rolled or forged from billet into long lengths in

round, flat, square and hexagon bar.

Brinell (HB) A measurement of the surface hardness of a steel.

Bright Drawn A ‘bright drawn’ steel is produced by drawing steel

bar through a die without pre heating to obtain a
smooth finish with tight tolerances.

Carbon Steel A steel with key components of carbon, silicon and

manganese but normally has no or very low content of
other alloying elements.

Case Hardening A heat treatment process for steel, usually low carbon
steel and alloy steel grades. The process hardens the
outside case of the steel by infusing elements in the
steel surface, whilst giving good strength to the steel
core. Also known as carburising or surface hardening.

Cast Iron An alloy of iron that contains a carbon content of

between 1.8% to 4.5%, combined with silicon and
manganese. Cast Iron is more brittle than steel and
has a lower melting temperature.

Centreless Grinding The method of finishing round steel bar by removing

the surface with a grinding wheel. Centreless ground
steel bar is produced to very tight tolerances.
Charpy Test A charpy test measures the amount of energy
absorbed by a steel during fracture.

Creep A metal failure caused by elongation due to

continuous stress.

DIN Standards Commonly referring to DIN steel specifications

introduced by Deutsches Institut für Normung in
Germany. DIN steel standards are combination of
letters and numbers.

Duplex Duplex is a stainless steel with an austenitic ferritic

chromium, nickel, molybdenum composition. Duplex
combines improved resistance to stress corrosion
cracking, pitting, crevice corrosion and offers high
strength when compared with other stainless alloys.

Electric Arc Furnace A steel furnace that uses an electric arc to generate
heat. After melting the steel is commonly cast into
blooms, slabs or billets.

Ferrous Any steel, metal or alloy which is primarily made up of

iron.

Fatigue Progressive and structural damage which occurs

when a steel is subjected to repeated cyclic stressing
or loading.

Flame Cutting A process used to cut carbon steel plate using an oxy-
fuel gas flame.

Forging A process of shaping or forming steel by using

compressive forces such as hammering, upsetting,
rolling or pressing.

Grade The name and designation of a steel defined by its

composition and properties.

Hardening A process used to increase the hardness of steel. The

process usually requires heating, quenching,
tempering and cooling.

Hardness The hardness of a steel is measured by its ability to

resist surface penetration. Common measurements of
hardness include Rockwell, Brinell and Vickers.

Heat Treatment A process to change the mechanical properties of a

steel. Typical heat treatment processes are hardening,
annealing, normalising and nitriding.

High Carbon Steel Usually a steel suited to heat treatment with a

minimum of 0.5% carbon content.

High Speed Steel High Speed Steel has more advantages to the
 standard tool steel grades offering high hardness at
temperature and high wear resistance.

Impact Impact testing measures energy absorption by

fracturing a steel test bar at high velocity.

Lumsden Grinding The method of finishing steel plate by removing the

surface with a reciprocating or rotary grinding
machine.

Manganese Steel Commonly referring to the 11% to 14% manganese

steel plate. A work hardening steel that becomes
increasingly hard when the surface is subject to
repeated abrasion or impact.

Martensitic A range of stainless steel grades which are magnetic

and can be hardened and tempered.

Mechanical Properties Steels can achieve different measurements of

strength, toughness and hardness, dependent on
composition and heat treatment – commonly known as
the mechanical properties of steel.

Meehanite A continuous cast iron type material.

Modulus of Elasticity A measurement of the resistance of a steel to be

deformed elastically and how it will restore it to its
original shape after distortion.

Non Ferrous Metal A metal or alloy that has no iron content.

Normalising A heat treatment process to remove stresses from

steel, often used after flame cutting of higher carbon
steel grades. The steel is heated and held at a
temperature above its upper critical limit for a
designated amount of time and then allowed to cool in
air.

Oxidation When a steel is exposed to oxygen, commonly

atmospheric conditions it may oxidise giving the
surface a stain, discolouration or rust.

Physical Properties Relating to the physics of a steel rather than

mechanical properties, usually include such properties
as density, coefficient of thermal expansion and
electrical conductivity.

Plasma Cutting A process used to cut stainless steel plate using a

plasma torch. An inert gas is blown at high speed
through a nozzle forming an electrical arc which forms
a hot plasma for penetrating and cutting.

Precipitation Hardening Commonly a heat treatment process for certain types

of stainless steel, in which a constituent precipitates
 from a supersaturated solid solution. Also known as
age hardening.

Precision Grinding The method of finishing steel plate by removing the

surface with a surface grinding machine, to achieve
tight tolerances.

Quenching A heat treatment term where a steel is rapidly cooled

after heating (common cooling mediums include oil,
water and air)

Rockwell A measurement of the surface hardness of a steel.

Spheroidal Graphite Iron A ductile cast iron, commonly known as S G Iron.

Spring Steel A medium to high carbon steel or an alloy or stainless

steel which, when heat treated, has a high yield
strength.

Stainless Steel Highly alloyed steel grades giving good resistance to

corrosion and oxidation.

Steel An iron based alloy containing various quantities of

carbon, silicon, manganese and other elements.

Steel Analysis The chemical composition and make up of a steel

specification.

Steel Elements A steel element is a pure chemical substance defined

by its atomic number (the number of protons in its
nucleus).

Tempering A heat treatment term where a steel is re heated to a

desired temperature after quenching and allowed to
cool to give the required hardness or mechanical
properties.

Tensile Strength A measurement of the maximum load per unit a steel

test piece will achieve before fracturing.

Tolerances (of steel bar and plate) The tolerance is the permissible limits or limits of
variation from a specified dimension.

Tool Steel Commonly steels that are suitable for heat treatment
to a high hardness, which offer good tooling
characteristics such as abrasion resistance and ability
to hold a cutting edge. Tool steel types include cold
work tool steel, hot work tool steel and plastic mould
tool steel.

Tool Steel Brand Names Commonly referring to tool steel producers of old who
give a steel specification its own company brand
name.
 UNS Abbreviation for ‘unified numbering system’.

Werkstoff German steel specifications commonly shown as a

number followed by a full stop then four more numbers
(i.e. 1.2379).

Yield Strength The yield strength or yield stress of a steel relates to

the level of stress in steel where plastic deformation
commences.

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