| Abbreviation |
Definition |
| AA |
Aluminum Association |
| AAR |
Association of American Railroads |
| ABS |
American Bureau of Shipbuilding |
| ACD |
Annealed and Cold Drawn |
| ACDQ |
Accelerated Cooling Direct Quench |
| ACI |
Alloy Casting Institute |
| ADI |
Austempered Ductile Iron |
| AFNOR |
Association Francaise de Normalisation |
| AGA |
American Gas Association |
| AISI |
American Iron and Steel Institute |
| AMS |
Aerospace Materials Specifications |
| AOD |
Argon Oxygen Decarburization |
| API |
American Petroleum Institute |
| AQ |
Aircraft Quality |
| AREA |
American Railway Engineering Association |
| ASCE |
American Society of Civil Engineers |
| ASIE |
American Society of Industrial Engineers |
| ASM |
American Society for Metals (now ASM International) |
| ASME |
American Society of Mechanical Engineers |
| ASQ |
Aircraft Structural Quality |
| ASQ |
Axle Shaft Quality |
| ASTM |
American Society for Testing and Materials |
| AWWA |
American Water Works Association |
| BH |
Bake Hardenable (Steel) |
| BSI |
British Standards Institute |
| BSSA |
British Stainless Steel Association |
| CD |
Cold Drawn |
| CDA |
Copper Development Association |
| CERF |
Civil Engineering Research Foundation |
| CF |
Cold Formed or Cold Finished |
| CHQ |
Cold Heading Quality |
| COF |
Coefficient of Friction |
| CQ |
Commercial Quality |
| CR |
Cold Rolled |
| CRES |
Corrosion REsistant Steel |
| CS |
Commercial Steel |
| CSA |
Canadian Standards Associates |
| CTE |
Coefficient of Thermal Expansion |
| CVD |
Chemical Vapor Deposition |
| CW |
Cold Worked |
| CW |
Cold Worked |
| D Steel |
Dual Phase Steel |
| DA |
Duplex Annealed |
| DDQ |
Deep Drawing Quality |
| DDS |
Deep Drawing Steel |
| DIN |
Deutches Institut für Normung |
| DIPRA |
Ductile Iron Pipe Research Association |
| DIS |
Ductile Iron Society |
| DMLS |
Direct Metal Laser Sintering (Rapid Protoyping/3D Printing Technique) |
| DOE |
Department of Energy (US Government) |
| DQ |
Drawing Quality |
| DQSK |
Drawing Quality Special Killed |
| DR |
Dent Resistant (Steel) |
| DS |
Drawing Steel |
| EDDQ |
Extra Deep Drawing Quality |
| EDDS |
Extra Deep Drawing Steel |
| ELI |
Extra Low Interstitial |
| EMI |
Electromagnetic Interference |
| EPA |
Environmental Protection Agency (US Government) |
| ERW |
Electrical Resistance Welding |
| ESCR |
Environmental Stress Cracking Resistance |
| ESR |
Electroslag Remelting |
| FDA |
Food and Drug Administration (US Government) |
| FED |
Federal Specification Number |
| FM |
Factory Mutual |
| Frg |
Forging |
| GMAW |
Gas Metal Arc Welding |
| GP |
General Purpose |
| GTAW |
Gas Tungsten Arc Welding |
| HAZ |
Heat Affected Zone (welding/joining) |
| HB |
Brinell Hardness Number |
| HE |
Hot Extruded |
| HF |
Hot Finished |
| HIP |
Hot Isostatic Pressing |
| HR |
Hot Rolled |
| HRA |
Rockwell A Hardness Number |
| HRB |
Rockwell B Hardness Number |
| HRC |
Rockwell C Hardness Number |
| HRPO |
Hot Rolled, Pickled and Oiled |
| HSLA |
High Strength Low Alloy (Steel) |
| HSS |
Hollow Structural Steel |
| HT |
Heat Treated |
| HV |
Vickers Hardness |
| HW |
Hot Worked or Hot Wrought |
| ISO |
International Standards Organization |
| JIS |
Japan Industrial Standard |
| ksi |
1000 pounds per square inch (kilo-psi) |
| MASH |
Mean Apparent Specific Heat |
| MIL SPEC |
Military Specification Number |
| MIM |
Metal Injection Molding |
| MMA |
Manual Metal Arc Welding |
| MMC |
Metal Matrix Composite |
| MSE |
Materials Science and Engineering |
| NACE |
National Association of Corrosion Engineers |
| NASA |
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (US) |
| NB |
No Break (Applied to Impact Test Results) |
| NCD |
Normalized and Cold Drawn |
| NHT |
Not Heat Treated |
| NIST |
National Institute of Standards and Technology |
| NSF |
National Sanitation Foundation (nonregulatory agency) |
| OEM |
Original Equipment Manufacturer |
| OSHA |
Occupation Safety and Health Administration (US Government) |
| PH |
Precipitation Hardened |
| PHT |
Precipitation Heat Treated |
| PM (P/M) |
Powder Metallurgy |
| POP |
Point of Purchase (Marketing Displays) |
| PVQ |
Pressure Vessel Quality |
| QA |
Quenched and Aged |
| QT |
Quenched and Tempered |
| RQ |
Regular Quality |
| RT |
Room Temperature |
| S Steel |
Structural Quality Grade Steel |
| SA |
Solution Annealed |
| SACD |
Spheroidized Annealed and Cold Drawn |
| SAE |
Society of Automotive Engineers |
| SCHQ |
Special Cold Heading Quality |
| SHT |
Solution Heat Treated |
| SLM |
Selective Laser Melting (Rapid Protoyping/3D Printing Technique) |
| SLS |
Selective Laser Sintering (Rapid Protoyping/3D Printing Technique) |
| SMA |
Shape Memory Alloy |
| SMAW |
Shielded Metal Arc Welding |
| Smls |
Seamless |
| SQ |
Structural Quality |
| SQ |
Saw Quality |
| SQ |
Solution Quenched |
| SQA |
Solution Quenched and Annealed |
| SR |
Stress Relieved |
| SS |
Stainless Steel |
| SS |
Structural Steel |
| STA |
Solution Treated and Aged |
| STOA |
Solution Treated and Overaged |
| TA |
Triplex Annealed |
| TC |
Tungsten Carbide |
| TCT |
Tungsten Carbide Tipped |
| TYS |
Tensile Yield Strength |
| UNI |
Ente Nationale Italiano di Unificazione (Italian standards body) |
| UNS |
Unified Numbering System |
| UTS |
Ultimate Tensile Strength |
| VAR |
Vacuum Arc Remelting |
| VCD |
Vacuum Carbon Deoxidation |
| VIM |
Vacuum Induction Melting |
| W Steel |
Weathering Grade Steel |
| WC |
Tungsten Carbide |
| X Steel |
Low Alloy Grade Steel |
