ASME Sec.II describes various materials. Part-A, contains specification about all ferrous material, part-B, all non-ferrous materials, etc. SA-106 is a specification in ASME Sec.II-A for seamless carbon steel pipe. The 'SA' part in the nomenclature is understandable, but is there a meaning to '106' also? What does it stand for?

Numbers give a clue about manufacturing or fabrication process(such as plate, forged, cast, wrought, etc) but also groups of material, test method, and others.

Arijit

The ASME B&PV Code borrowed the notation from ASTM. The ASTM "numbers" are assigned simply in ascending order as new (or replacement) materials are added and the "class" or "grade" designation e.g., "B", has a meaning as Sun Wee indicates. The "SA" simply means that it is a "listed" (by the ASME B&PV Code) material and it is acceptable to that Code. You will notice that not all the materials listed in the set of all ASTM specifications are listed in the ASME B&PV Code. This allows the ASME B&PV Code to indicate which materials are acceptable to that Code by listing it with a "SA" prefix.

You can look up the ASTM specification for A-106, Grade B, (or grade "A" or grade "C") pipe and it will give you a wealth of information as to how the pipe was made and the chemical composition of the material. Lot of useful information there. The value of having standard specifications for materials is obvious and it is one of the overall benefits of designing with standard components made of standard materials.

Regards, John.

Thank you Sun Wee, and John Breen for the insight. What I wish to know is whether the 'source' - ASTM standards do also elaborate on how to interpret the numbers? If not(according to John Breen) then can I get a reference (according to Sun Wee) where I can get such information.