Designation: A 181/A 181M – 01

Standard Specification for

Carbon Steel Forgings, for General-Purpose Piping1
This standard is issued under the fixed designation A 181/A 181M; the number immediately following the designation indicates the year
of original adoption or, in the case of revision, the year of last revision. A number in parentheses indicates the year of last reapproval.
A superscript epsilon (e) indicates an editorial change since the last revision or reapproval.

This standard has been approved for use by agencies of the Department of Defense.

1. Scope 2.2 AIAG Standard:

1.1 This specification2 covers nonstandard as-forged fit- AIAG B-5 02.00 Primary Metals Identification Tag Appli-
tings, valve components, and parts for general service. Forg- cation Standard5
ings made to this specification are limited to a maximum
3. General Requirements and Ordering Information
weight of 10 000 lb [4540 kg]. Larger forgings may be ordered
to Specification A 266/A 266M. 3.1 Product furnished to this specification shall conform to
1.2 Two grades of material are covered, designated as the requirements of Specification A 961, including any supple-
Classes 60 and 70, respectively, and are classified in accor- mentary requirements that are indicated in the purchase order.
dance with their chemical composition and mechanical prop- Failure to comply with the requirements of Specification A 961
erties as specified in 5.1 and 6.1 constitutes non-conformance with this specification.
1.3 Class 60 was formerly designated Grade I and Class 70 3.2 It is the purchaser’s responsibility to specify in the
was formerly designated Grade II. purchase order all ordering information necessary to purchase
1.4 This specification is expressed in both inch-pound units the needed material. Examples of such information include but
and SI units. However, unless the order specifies the applicable are not limited to the ordering information in Specification
“M” specification designation (SI units), the material shall be A 961 and the following:
furnished to inch-pound units. 3.2.1 Supplementary requirements, and
1.5 The values stated in either inch-pound units or SI units 3.2.2 Additional requirements (See 4.3, 9.1, 10.2, 12.1, and
are to be regarded as standard. Within the text, the SI units are 12.2).
shown in brackets. The values stated in each system are not 3.3 If the requirements of this specification are in conflict
exact equivalents; therefore, each system must be used inde- with the requirements of Specification A 961, the requirements
pendently of the other. Combining values from the two systems of this specification shall prevail.
may result in nonconformance with the specification. 4. Materials and Manufacture
2. Referenced Documents 4.1 Except for flanges of all types, hollow, cylindrically
2.1 ASTM Standards: shaped parts may be machined from hot-rolled or forged bar,
A 266/A 266M Specification for Carbon Steel Forgings for provided that the axial length of the part is approximately
Pressure Vessel Components3 parallel to the metal flow lines of the stock. Other parts,
A 788 Specification for Steel Forgings, General Require- excluding flanges of all types, up to and including NPS 4 may
ments3 be machined from hot-rolled or forged bar. Elbows, return
A 961 Specification for Common Requirements for Steel bends, tees, and header tees shall not be machined directly
Flanges, Forged Fittings, Valves, and Parts for Piping from bar stock.
Applications4 4.2 Except as permitted in 4.1, the finished product shall be
a forging as defined in the Terminology section (exclusively) of
Specification A 788.
1
This specification is under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee A01 on Steel, 4.3 When specified in the order, the manufacturer shall
Stainless Steel, and Related Alloys and is the direct responsibility of Subcommittee submit for approval of the purchaser a sketch showing the
A01.22 on Steel Forgings and Wrought Fittings for Piping Applications and Bolting
Materials for Piping and Special Purpose Applications.
shape of the rough forging before machining.
Current edition approved Mar. 10, 2001. Published May 2001. Originally
published as A 181 – 35. Last previous edition A 181/A 181M – 00.
2
For ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code applications see related Specifi-
cation SA-181 in Section II of that Code.
3 5
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 01.05. Available from Automotive Industry Action Group, 26200 Lahser, Suite 200,
4
Annual Book of ASTM Standards, Vol 01.01. Southfield, MI 48034.

Copyright © ASTM International, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, PO Box C700, West Conshohocken, PA 19428-2959, United States.

1
 A 181/A 181M – 01
4.4 Forgings shall be protected against sudden or too rapid TABLE 2 Tensile Requirements
cooling from the rolling or forging while passing through the Class 60 Class 70
critical range. Tensile strength, min, ksi [MPa] 60 [415] 70 [485]
4.5 Heat treatment is neither required nor prohibited, but Yield strength,A min, ksi [MPa] 30 [205] 36 [250]
Elongation in 2 in. [50 mm], min, % 22 18
when applied, heat treatment shall consist of tempering, Reduction of area, min, % 35 24
annealing, normalizing, or normalizing and tempering. A
Determined by either the 0.2 % offset method or the 0.5 % extension-under-
load method.
5. Chemical Composition
5.1 An analysis of each heat shall be made by the manufac- 10. Repair by Welding
turer to determine the percentages of the elements specified in
Table 1. The chemical composition thus determined shall 10.1 Repair welding, by the manufacturer, is permissible for
conform to the requirements in Table 1. parts made to dimensional standards such as those of ANSI or
equivalent standards.
6. Mechanical Properties 10.2 Prior approval of the purchaser shall be required to
6.1 The material shall conform to the requirements as to weld repair special parts made to the purchaser’s requirements.
tensile properties prescribed in Table 2. 10.3 The composition of the weld deposits shall be similar
to the base metal and in accordance with the procedure
7. Number of Tests qualification for the applicable material. Welding shall be
7.1 One tension test shall be made from each heat. accomplished with a weld procedure designed to produce low
7.2 If any test specimen is defectively machined, it may be hydrogen in the weldment. Short-circuit gas metal arc welding
discarded and another specimen substituted. is permissible only with the approval of the purchaser.

8. Retests 11. Marking of Forgings

8.1 When one or more representative test specimens do not 11.1 Identification marks consisting of the manufacturer’s
conform to specification requirements for the tested character- symbol or name (Note), designation of service rating, Specifi-
istic, only a single retest for each nonconforming characteristic cation number, grade, and size shall be legibly forged or
may be performed to establish product acceptability. Retests stamped on each forging, and in such a position as not to injure
shall be performed on twice the number of representative the usefulness of the forgings.
specimens that were originally nonconforming. When any 11.2 Bar Coding—In addition to the requirements in 11.1,
retest specimen does not conform to specification requirements bar coding is acceptable as a supplementary identification
for the characteristic in question, the lot represented by that method. The purchaser may specify in the order a specific bar
specimen shall be rejected, heat-treated or reheat-treated in coding system to be used. The bar coding system, if applied at
accordance with 4.5, and tested in accordance with Sections 6 the discretion of the supplier, should be consistent with one of
and 7. the published industry standards for bar coding. If used on
small parts the bar code may be applied to the box or a
9. Reports of Testing substantially applied tag.
9.1 Upon request of the purchaser in the contract or order, a 12. Certificate of Compliance
report of the test results and chemical analyses shall be
furnished. The specification designation included on reports of 12.1 When specified in the purchase order or contract, a
testing shall include year of issue and revision letter, if any. producer’s or supplier’s certification shall be furnished to the
purchaser that the material was manufactured, sampled, tested,
TABLE 1 Chemical Requirements
and inspected in accordance with this specification and has
been found to meet the requirements. The specification desig-
Element Composition, %
Classes 60 and 70 nation included on certificates of compliance shall include year
Carbon, max 0.35
of issue and revision letter, if any.
Manganese, max 1.10A 12.2 When specified in the purchase order or contract, a
Phosphorus, max 0.05 report of the test results shall be furnished.
Silicon 0.10-0.35
Sulfur, max 0.05
13. Keywords
A
Manganese may be increased to 1.35 % max provided the carbon is reduced
0.01 % for each 0.06 % increase in manganese over the limit shown in the table. 13.1 pipe fittings, steel; piping applications; pressure con-
taining parts; steel forgings, carbon; steel valves

2
 A 181/A 181M – 01
SUPPLEMENTARY REQUIREMENTS

S1. Carbon Equivalent S1.2 Determine the carbon equivalent (CE) as follows:
S1.1 The maximum carbon equivalent based on heat analy- CE 5 C 1 Mn / 6 1 ~Cr 1 Mo 1 V! / 5 1 ~Ni 1 Cu! / 15
sis shall be as follows:
S1.3 A lower maximum carbon equivalent may be agreed
Class Maximum Carbon Equivalent Value
Maximum Section Thickness Maximum Section Thickness upon between the supplier and the purchaser.
Less Than or Equal to 2 in. Greater Than 2 in. S1.4 When this Supplementary Requirement is invoked, all
60 0.45 0.46
70 0.47 0.48 elements in the carbon equivalent formula shall be analyzed
and the amounts reported.

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