European Standard Designation Systems for Steel Names
1. Designation and meaning of the names of structural steels
- The first letter indicates the type of steel,
- The following digits indicate the yield strength MPa;
- The 2 symbols immediately after the yield point value indicate the quality grade of the steel;
- The symbols immediately following the quality grade indicate characteristics/uses or treatment, and
- Finally, a plus sign (+) and a symbol indicate delivery/handling conditions, coatings or special requirements.
For example,
S235JRC+C Meaning :
- “S” is the abbreviation for structural steel.
- “235” refers to the yield strength in MPa.
- J indicates Joules (27 J)
- R is the abbreviation for Room temperature (20 °C).
- C stands for special cold forming (cold flanging, cold forming or cold drawing).
- “+C” indicates cold hardening.
S235JRC+C Meaning : Structural steel (S) with specified minimum yield strength of 235 MPa at room temperature, minimum impact energy of 27 J at room temperature of 20 °C (JR), suitable for cold flanging (C), delivery condition +C (cold hardened).
Meaning S355J2W : Structural steel (S) with specified yield strength ≥355 MPa at room temperature, impact energy ≥27 J at -20 °C (J2) and is weather resistant (W).
S355MC Meaning : Structural steel (S), thermomechanically rolled (M), with a specified minimum yield strength at room temperature of 355 MPa (355) and suitable for cold forming (C).
| Basic constituent symbols indicating quality grades of structural steel | |
|---|---|
| Symbol/Number | Meaning |
| s | Structural steel |
| 235 | Yield strength: 235 MPa |
| Jr. | Joules (27J) at room temperature (+20°C) |
| J0 | Joules (27J) at 0°C |
| J2 | Joules (27J) at -20°C |
| J3 | Joules (27J) at -30°C |
| J4 | Joules (27J) at -40°C |
| J5 | Joules (27J) at -50°C |
| J6 | Joules (27J) at -60°C |
| KR | Joules (40J) at room temperature (+20°C) |
| K0 | Joules (40J) at 0°C |
| K2 | Joules (40J) at -20°C |
| K3 | Joules (40J) at -30°C |
| K4 | Joules (40J) at -40°C |
| K5 | Joules (40J) at -50°C |
| K6 | Joules (40J) at -60°C |
| LR | Joules (60J) at room temperature (+20°C) |
| L0 | Joules (60J) at 0°C |
| L2 | Joules (60J) at -20°C |
| L3 | Joules (60J) at -30°C |
| L4 | Joules (60J) at -40°C |
| L5 | Joules (60J) at -50°C |
| L6 | Joules (60J) at -60°C |
| A | Precipitation hardening |
| M | Thermomechanically rolled |
| N | Normalized or rolled normalized |
| P | Quenched and tempered |
| W | Special cold forming (cold flanging, cold forming or cold drawing) |
| D | Hot dip coating |
| AND | Enameling |
| F | Forged |
| H | Hollow section |
| I | Low temperature |
| P | sheet piling |
| P | For the class with the highest phosphorus content (only in the case of class S355) |
| s | Shipbuilding |
| T | Tubes |
| W | Weather resistant (better resistance to atmospheric corrosion) |
| Symbols indicating the treatment of steel products | |
|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning |
| +A | Soft annealed |
| +AC | annealed to obtain spheroidized carbides |
| +AR | as laminated (without any special lamination conditions and/or heat treatment) |
| +AT | solution annealed |
| +C | hardened cold work |
| +Cxxx | cold work hardened with a minimum tensile strength of xxx MPa |
| +CPxxx | cold work hardened with a minimum strength of 0.2% xxx MPa |
| +CR | cold rolled |
| +DC | delivery condition at the discretion of the manufacturer |
| +PF | treated with ferritic-pearlite structure and hardness range |
| +HC | hot rolled followed by cold hardening |
| +me | isothermally treated |
| +LC | ironed leather (tempered laminated or cold drawn) |
| +M | thermomechanically formed |
| +N | normalized or normalized formed |
| +NT | standardized and tempered |
| +P | hardened precipitation |
| +Q | wiped out |
| + quality control | air tempered |
| +QO | seasoned oil |
| +QT | Quenched and tempered |
| +QW | tempered water |
| +RA | annealed recrystallization |
| +S | treated for cold cutting |
| +SR | relieved stress |
| +T | temperate |
| +TH | hardness range treatment |
| +you | not treated |
| +WW | hot worked |
| Symbols for steel products indicating the type of coating | |
|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning |
| +A | hot dip aluminum coating |
| +HOW | aluminum silicon alloy shell |
| +AZ | aluminum and zinc alloy coating (>50% Al) |
| +CE | electrolytic chromium/chromium oxide coating (ECCS) |
| +CU | copper plating |
| +IC | inorganic coating |
| +OC | organic coating |
| +S | hot dip tin coating |
| +SE | tin electrolytic coating |
| +T | hot-dip tin-lead alloy plating (terne) |
| +TE | tin and lead alloy electrolytic coating (terne) |
| +Z | hot dip zinc coating (galvanized) |
| +ZA | hot dip zinc and aluminum coating (>50% Zn) |
| +ZE | zinc electrolytic coating |
| +ZF | hot dip zinc iron coating (galvannealed) |
| +ZM | hot dip zinc and magnesium coating |
| +ZN | zinc and nickel alloy electrolytic coating |
| Symbols for steel products indicating special requirements | |
|---|---|
| Symbol | Meaning |
| +CH | core hardenability |
| +H | hardenability |
| +Z15 | through the thickness property; minimum area reduction = 15% |
| +Z25 | through the thickness property; minimum area reduction = 25% |
| +Z35 | through the thickness property; minimum area reduction = 35% |
