ASME BPVC 2007 Section II – Materials – Part A begin (rus) — Ferrous Material Specifications (Beginning With SA-450, 2008a Addenda)

📐 Section II (Materials) of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code is the material foundation of the entire code system. Selection, design, and fabrication under Section I (Power Boilers), Section III (Nuclear Facility Components), Section IV (Heating Boilers), Section VIII (Pressure Vessels), and Section XII (Transport Tanks) all rely on the specifications published in Section II. The Section is issued in four parts: Part A — Ferrous Material Specifications, Part B — Nonferrous Material Specifications, Part C — Specifications for Welding Rods, Electrodes, and Filler Metals, and Part D — Properties (in both U.S. Customary and Metric units).

The document reviewed here is the 2007 Edition of Part A together with the 2008a Addenda, issued July 1, 2008, totaling 890 pages. Its content begins at SA-450, covering the latter portion of Part A as well as the non-ASTM source specifications adopted by ASME (SA/EN, SA/GB, SA/JIS). This particular copy is a Russian-language translation prepared for projects in Russian-speaking regions.

1. Scope and Structure 📌

Part A covers ferrous materials. By product form the specifications fall into recognizable families: plate and strip (SA-6, SA-20, SA-202, SA-240, SA-285, SA-387, SA-515, SA-516, SA-537), tubular products (SA-53, SA-106, SA-213, SA-312, SA-335, SA-450, SA-530, SA-789, SA-790), forgings (SA-105, SA-182, SA-350, SA-508, SA-541, SA-788), bar and shapes (SA-29, SA-276, SA-479, SA-484), castings (SA-216, SA-217, SA-351, SA-352, SA-995), bolting (SA-193, SA-194, SA-307, SA-320, SA-325, SA-449, SA-540, SA-574), and fittings and components (SA-234, SA-403, SA-420, SA-815, SA-960, SA-961, SA-962).

Crucially, the permitted application of a material is not defined by the material specification but by the construction section that invokes it. Whether an SA-516 Grade 70 plate may be used below −29 °C is decided by the impact-test exemption curves of UCS-66 in Section VIII Division 1; whether the same plate may be used in a nuclear component is decided by the applicable subsection of Section III (NB, NC, or ND). Part A answers “what is this material, how is it tested, and what constitutes acceptance,” while the design section answers “may it be used here.”

The 2007 Edition also contains non-ASTM source specifications: SA/EN 10028-2 (European pressure vessel plate), SA/EN 10028-7 (stainless plate), SA/GB 6654 (Chinese pressure vessel plate), and SA/JIS G4303 (Japanese stainless bar). Adoption of these documents requires case-by-case review by the Boiler and Pressure Vessel Committee, and the recognized edition years are listed in the Guideline on Acceptable Editions.

2. Technical Requirements 🔧

2.1 Anatomy of a single SA specification

Each specification follows the ASTM chapter pattern: Scope, Referenced Documents, Ordering Information, General Requirements, Manufacture, Heat Treatment, Chemical Composition, Mechanical Properties, Methods of Test, Retest, Workmanship and Repair, Marking, and Packaging. Engineers habitually consult the chemical composition and tensile property tables, but acceptance disputes usually originate in the General Requirements and Supplementary Requirements, not in the grade tables.

2.2 General requirements layer onto product specifications

The most frequently overlooked mechanism in Part A is the General Requirements documents: SA-6/SA-6M (general requirements for rolled steel plate), SA-20/SA-20M (pressure vessel plate), SA-29/SA-29M (steel bars), SA-450/SA-450M (carbon and ferritic alloy steel tubing), SA-530/SA-530M (specialized tubing), SA-960/SA-960M (forgings), SA-961/SA-961M (fittings), and SA-962/SA-962M. These documents specify tolerances, test frequency, specimen location, retest rules, and marking conventions. They must be applied together with the product specification; citing either one alone does not constitute a complete material requirement.

2.3 How the 2008a Addenda changed Part A

Addenda after the 2007 Edition are issued as replacement pages; the volume is not reprinted. Changed pages carry the margin designation “A08”, while changes belonging to the 2007 Edition itself are marked “07”. Each addenda booklet is preceded by a Summary of Changes and a List of Changes in Record Number Order, so every change (e.g., record 07-740, 05-1296) can be traced to a specific committee action and effective date.

The 2008a Addenda is unusually broad, replacing whole specifications across the most widely used grades: SA-6, SA-20, SA-29, SA-193, SA-213, SA-216, SA-217, SA-234, SA-335, SA-387, SA-403, SA-541, and SA-553 among others. Three drivers explain the volume of change: alignment with newer ASTM editions (SA-20 updated to ASTM A20/A20M-06, SA-213 to A213/A213M-07); errata corrections (Figure 1 of SA-350, chromium analysis in Table 1 of SA-542, paragraph 10.3 of SA-369); and newly adopted specifications (pages 1178.1 and 1178.2 for SA-656/SA-656M).

2.4 How acceptance is actually decided

Part A operates on three parallel tracks: heat analysis, product analysis, and mechanical testing. Heat analysis is taken by the steel mill at casting; product analysis is taken by the fabricator from the finished product, with permissible deviations controlled by the product analysis tolerance table of each specification. Mechanical properties are established on specimens representative of the same heat and the same heat-treatment condition. For quenched-and-tempered low-alloy grades such as SA-517, SA-537, and SA-553, specimens must receive the same thermal treatment as the product (either as heat-treated with the load or under an equivalent simulated cycle); otherwise the results are not representative.

3. Engineering Practice Essentials 🛠️

• 🔍 Keep the version chain complete: material identifications on design documents, purchase orders, mill test reports, and Data Reports must read as “SA number + edition + addenda,” for example SA-516 Gr. 70, 2007 Edition, 2008a Addenda. Writing only “SA-516,” or citing “ASTM A516” directly, is an improper reference.
• 🔧 Allowable stresses live in Part D: Part A provides chemistry and mechanical properties only. Allowable stress values appear exclusively in Section II, Part D, and they are coupled to the design rules of the construction section (Divisions 1 and 2 of Section VIII use different bases). Never derive allowable stress by dividing yield strength yourself.
• 📋 Supplementary Requirements must be ordered explicitly: supplementary requirements in SA-20, SA-435, or SA-578 become mandatory only when specified in the purchase order. Vacuum treatment, copper restrictions, single-plate ultrasonic examination, or an additional impact test temperature will not be performed unless ordered.
• 📊 Impact testing is triggered by the construction section: the material specification describes how to run a Charpy test; UCS-66, UCS-66(a), and UHA-51 decide whether one is required. Cold service, thicknesses beyond the exemption curve, or unfavorable material groups make impact testing mandatory.
• 🧾 Using the Russian translation: this copy is a translation, so terminology (e.g., “Технические условия” for Specifications, “черные металлы” for ferrous metals) differs from the English text. For certification, contracts, and arbitration, the English original governs; the translation serves understanding and training only.
• 📦 Minimum information set for procurement: product form and size, grade and class, quantity, heat-treatment condition, test requirements including impact temperature, supplementary requirement numbers, marking and certification requirements, and special packaging. Any missing item invites a deviation.

4. Frequently Asked Questions ❓