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Nomenclature of Material

February 11, 2009

I am working for an company related with Aerospace industry in India as a Design Engineer. Here I want to know, "How the nomenclature are given to Materials?", For example 7075-T73, 6061 T6 ALUM, 15-5 CRES or C1215 STL.... So in this I want to know what is the meaning of 7075-T73 Or 6061-T6 Or 15-5. Is there any standard method to designate this Material. If YES then where can I get that list.

Thanks,
Rahul S.

Rahul S
Product designer - Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA

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February 11, 2009

Hi, Rahul. Unfortunately there is no grand unified theory with the nomenclature for different metals. You'll find one for aluminum alloys, one (or more) for steel, etc. For aluminum, there is a general composition for all 7xxx alloys and 6xxx alloys, and then smaller composition differences for each; the "T" basically indicates a heat treatment. I think you will find the information you need in the various volumes of the ASM Metals Handbook covering non-ferrous metals and ferrous metals. Good luck.

Regards,

Ted Mooney, P.E.
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com - Pine Beach, New Jersey

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March 15, 2009

Well, what has happened over the years is that any number of industry, government, and other groups have banded together to try to standardize the alloy designations. Since the different alloy group designations (steel, stainless steel, aluminum, copper, etc) were all written by different committees, they all imparted their own nomenclature to their system. That's why they seem to make no sense.

There've been a few attempts to make things more universal, and to add some logic to the systems. I'm more familiar with the North American Unified Numbering System, a joint project of SAE (HS-1086) and ASTM (DS-56) than I am with the werkstoff system of the DIN. Both SAE and ASTM publish the "Metals and Alloys in the Unified Numbering System", now in it's 11th edition. If your company makes aerospace parts, they really should get a copy.

For aluminum, the aluminum association offers free downloads of the Teal Sheets, their list of standardized international numerical designations. Go to their website and with a little searching you'll find it. The AA also offers their "Aluminum Standards and Data" book, which explains the temper designation system (T6, T73, H114, etc) and gives a nice compilation of the properties to be expected in various product forms. That's another book you should probably have. If you just want to see what the temper designations are all about, you can probably find a summary on the web: but a better one would be found in the aluminum section of the old Mil-Handbook-5, which is also still kicking around out there in cyberspace.

Have fun!

Lee Gearhart
metallurgist - E. Aurora, New York