ASTM's physical and mechanical testing standards provide guides for the proper procedures employed in the determination of the physical, mechanical, and metallographic properties of certain materials, particularly metals and alloys. Using test methods such as scanning electron microscopy, hole-drilling strain-gage method, semiautomatic and automatic image analysis, and X-ray diffraction, parameters like elastic moduli, impact strength, ductility, hardness, residual stress, and grain size are measured. These physical and mechanical testing standards allow metallurgical laboratories, manufacturers, and other producers and users of metals and alloys to examine and evaluate such materials for strength and quality to ensure safety towards their end-use.

Physical Testing Standards and Mechanical Testing Standards

ASTM's physical and mechanical testing standards provide guides for the proper procedures employed in the determination of the physical, mechanical, and metallographic properties of certain materials, particularly metals and alloys. Using test methods such as scanning electron microscopy, hole-drilling strain-gage method, semiautomatic and automatic image analysis, and X-ray diffraction, parameters like elastic moduli, impact strength, ductility, hardness, residual stress, and grain size are measured. These physical and mechanical testing standards allow metallurgical laboratories, manufacturers, and other producers and users of metals and alloys to examine and evaluate such materials for strength and quality to ensure safety towards their end-use.

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Automated Testing

E1856-13(2021) Standard Guide for Evaluating Computerized Data Acquisition Systems Used to Acquire Data from Universal Testing Machines

Calibration of Mechanical Testing Machines and Apparatus

E1237-20 Standard Guide for Installing Bonded Resistance Strain Gages

E251-20a Standard Test Methods for Performance Characteristics of Metallic Bonded Resistance Strain Gages

E1949-21 Standard Test Method for Ambient Temperature Fatigue Life of Metallic Bonded Resistance Strain Gages

E2624-17 Standard Practice for Torque Calibration of Testing Machines

E1012-19 Standard Practice for Verification of Testing Frame and Specimen Alignment Under Tensile and Compressive Axial Force Application

E74-18e1 Standard Practices for Calibration and Verification for Force-Measuring Instruments

E2309/E2309M-20 Standard Practices for Verification of Displacement Measuring Systems and Devices Used in Material Testing Machines

E4-21 Standard Practices for Force Calibration and Verification of Testing Machines

E1561-20 Standard Practice for Analysis of Strain Gage Rosette Data

E2428-22 Standard Practice for Calibration and Verification of Elastic Torque Measurement Standards

E83-23 Standard Practice for Verification and Classification of Extensometer Systems

E1319-23 Standard Guide for High-Temperature Static Strain Measurement

E2658-15(2023) Standard Practices for Verification of Speed for Material Testing Machines

Ductility and Formability

E855-21 Standard Test Methods for Bend Testing of Metallic Flat Materials for Spring Applications Involving Static Loading

E190-21 Standard Test Method for Guided Bend Test for Ductility of Welds

E646-16 Standard Test Method for Tensile Strain-Hardening Exponents (n -Values) of Metallic Sheet Materials

E2492-07(2012) Standard Test Method for Evaluating Springback of Sheet Metal Using the Demeri Split Ring Test (Withdrawn 2017)

E796-94(2000) Standard Test Method for Ductility Testing of Metallic Foil (Withdrawn 2009)

E290-22 Standard Test Methods for Bend Testing of Material for Ductility

E2712-22 Standard Test Methods for Bulge-Forming Superplastic Metallic Sheet

E2448-22 Standard Test Method for Determining the Superplastic Properties of Metallic Sheet Materials

E2218-23 Standard Test Method for Determining Forming Limit Curves

E517-24 Standard Test Method for Plastic Strain Ratio r for Sheet Metal

E643-24 Standard Test Method for Ball Punch Deformation of Metallic Sheet Material

Grain Size

E930-18 Standard Test Methods for Estimating the Largest Grain Observed in a Metallographic Section (ALA Grain Size)

E1181-02(2023) Standard Test Methods for Characterizing Duplex Grain Sizes

E112-24 Standard Test Methods for Determining Average Grain Size

Impact Testing

E604-18 Standard Test Method for Dynamic Tear Testing of Metallic Materials

E1271-94 Standard Practice for Qualifying Charpy Verification Specimens of Heat-Treated Steel (Withdrawn 2003)

E1236-91(1997) Standard Practice for Qualifying Charpy Impact Machines as Reference Machines (Withdrawn 2006)

E436-03(2021) Standard Test Method for Drop-Weight Tear Tests of Ferritic Steels

E2298-18 Standard Test Method for Instrumented Impact Testing of Metallic Materials

E2248-18 Standard Test Method for Impact Testing of Miniaturized Charpy V-notch Specimens

E208-20e1 Standard Test Method for Conducting Drop-Weight Test to Determine Nil-Ductility Transition Temperature of Ferritic Steels

E23-24 Standard Test Methods for Notched Bar Impact Testing of Metallic Materials

Inclusions

E2283-08(2019) Standard Practice for Extreme Value Analysis of Nonmetallic Inclusions in Steel and Other Microstructural Features

E1122-96(2002) Standard Practice for Obtaining JK Inclusion Ratings Using Automatic Image Analysis (Withdrawn 2006)

E45-18a(2023) Standard Test Methods for Determining the Inclusion Content of Steel

Indentation Hardness Testing

E140-12B(2019)e1 Standard Hardness Conversion Tables for Metals Relationship Among Brinell Hardness, Vickers Hardness, Rockwell Hardness, Superficial Hardness, Knoop Hardness, Scleroscope Hardness, and Leeb Hardness

E92-82(2003)e2 Standard Test Method for Vickers Hardness of Metallic Materials (Withdrawn 2010)

E448-82(2008) Standard Practice for Scleroscope Hardness Testing of Metallic Materials (Withdrawn 2017)

E3246-22 Standard Test Methods for Differential Indentation Depth Hardness of Metallic Materials

E1842-96 Standard Test Method for Macro-Rockwell Hardness Testing of Metallic Materials (Withdrawn 2002)

E110-14(2023) Standard Test Method for Rockwell and Brinell Hardness of Metallic Materials by Portable Hardness Testers

E10-23 Standard Test Method for Brinell Hardness of Metallic Materials

E92-23 Standard Test Methods for Vickers Hardness and Knoop Hardness of Metallic Materials

E2546-15(2023) Standard Practice for Instrumented Indentation Testing

E18-24 Standard Test Methods for Rockwell Hardness of Metallic Materials

E103-24 Standard Practice for Rapid Indentation Hardness Testing of Metallic Materials

Light Microscopy

E1951-14(2019) Standard Guide for Calibrating Reticles and Light Microscope Magnifications

E883-11(2024) Standard Guide for Reflected–Light Photomicrography

Microindentation Hardness Testing

E384-22 Standard Test Method for Microindentation Hardness of Materials

Quantitative Metallography

E1077-14(2021) Standard Test Methods for Estimating the Depth of Decarburization of Steel Specimens

E1268-19 Standard Practice for Assessing the Degree of Banding or Orientation of Microstructures

E1182-01 Standard Test Method for Measurement of Surface Layer Thickness by Radial Sectioning (Withdrawn 2002)

E562-19e1 Standard Test Method for Determining Volume Fraction by Systematic Manual Point Count

E2109-01(2021) Standard Test Methods for Determining Area Percentage Porosity in Thermal Sprayed Coatings

E1245-03(2023) Standard Practice for Determining the Inclusion or Second-Phase Constituent Content of Metals by Automatic Image Analysis

E2567-16a(2023) Standard Test Method for Determining Nodularity And Nodule Count In Ductile Iron Using Image Analysis

E1382-97(2023) Standard Test Methods for Determining Average Grain Size Using Semiautomatic and Automatic Image Analysis

Residual Stress Measurement

E837-20 Standard Test Method for Determining Residual Stresses by the Hole-Drilling Strain-Gage Method

E1685-20 Standard Practice for Measuring the Change in Length of Bolts Using the Ultrasonic Pulse-Echo Technique

E2860-20 Standard Test Method for Residual Stress Measurement by X-Ray Diffraction for Bearing Steels

E1426-14(2019)e1 Standard Test Method for Determining the X-Ray Elastic Constants for Use in the Measurement of Residual Stress Using X-Ray Diffraction Techniques

E1928-13(2019) Standard Practice for Estimating the Approximate Residual Circumferential Stress in Straight Thin-walled Tubing

E1544-99(2004)e1 Standard Practice for Construction of a Stepped Block and Its Use to Estimate Errors Produced by Speed-of-Sound Measurement Systems for Use on Solids (Withdrawn 2012)

E915-21 Standard Practice for Verifying the Alignment of X-Ray Diffraction Instruments for Residual Stress Measurement

Specimen Preparation

E1180-08(2021) Standard Practice for Preparing Sulfur Prints for Macrostructural Evaluation

E3-11(2017) Standard Guide for Preparation of Metallographic Specimens

E768-99(2018) Standard Guide for Preparing and Evaluating Specimens for Automatic Inclusion Assessment of Steel

E1351-01(2020) Standard Practice for Production and Evaluation of Field Metallographic Replicas

E2014-17 Standard Guide on Metallographic Laboratory Safety

E2015-04(2021) Standard Guide for Preparation of Plastics and Polymeric Specimens for Microstructural Examination

E1920-03(2021) Standard Guide for Metallographic Preparation of Thermal Sprayed Coatings

E1558-09(2021) Standard Guide for Electrolytic Polishing of Metallographic Specimens

E381-22 Standard Method of Macroetch Testing Steel Bars, Billets, Blooms, and Forgings

E340-23 Standard Practice for Macroetching Metals and Alloys

E407-23 Standard Practice for Microetching Metals and Alloys

Terminology

E6-23a Standard Terminology Relating to Methods of Mechanical Testing

X-Ray and Electron Metallography

E963-95(2017) Standard Practice for Electrolytic Extraction of Phases from Ni and Ni-Fe Base Superalloys Using a Hydrochloric-Methanol Electrolyte (Withdrawn 2018)

E82/E82M-14(2019) Standard Test Method for Determining the Orientation of a Metal Crystal

E766-14(2019) Standard Practice for Calibrating the Magnification of a Scanning Electron Microscope

E1508-12a(2019) Standard Guide for Quantitative Analysis by Energy-Dispersive Spectroscopy

E2627-13(2019) Standard Practice for Determining Average Grain Size Using Electron Backscatter Diffraction (EBSD) in Fully Recrystallized Polycrystalline Materials

E975-22 Standard Test Method for X-Ray Determination of Retained Austenite in Steel with Near Random Crystallographic Orientation

E2142-08(2023) Standard Test Methods for Rating and Classifying Inclusions in Steel Using the Scanning Electron Microscope

E81-96(2024) Standard Test Method for Preparing Quantitative Pole Figures

E986-04(2024) Standard Practice for Scanning Electron Microscope Beam Size Characterization