ASTM A302 Alloy Steel
ASTM A302 alloy steel is an alloy steel formulated for primary forming into wrought products.
The properties of ASTM A302 alloy steel include four common variations. This page shows summary ranges across all of them. For more specific values, follow the links immediately below. The graph bars on the material properties cards further below compare ASTM A302 alloy steel to: wrought alloy steels in the same category (top), all iron alloys (middle), and the entire database (bottom). A full bar means this is the highest value in the relevant set. A half-full bar means it's 50% of the highest, and so on.
Mechanical Properties
Brinell Hardness
180 to 190
Elastic (Young's, Tensile) Modulus
190 GPa 27 x 106 psi
Elongation at Break
20 to 23 %
Fatigue Strength
250 to 280 MPa 36 to 41 x 103 psi
Poisson's Ratio
0.29
Shear Modulus
73 GPa 11 x 106 psi
Shear Strength
370 to 390 MPa 53 to 57 x 103 psi
Tensile Strength: Ultimate (UTS)
590 to 620 MPa 85 to 90 x 103 psi
Tensile Strength: Yield (Proof)
350 to 390 MPa 51 to 57 x 103 psi
Thermal Properties
Latent Heat of Fusion
250 J/g
Maximum Temperature: Mechanical
410 °C 760 to 770 °F
Melting Completion (Liquidus)
1460 °C 2670 °F
Melting Onset (Solidus)
1420 °C 2590 °F
Specific Heat Capacity
470 J/kg-K 0.11 BTU/lb-°F
Thermal Conductivity
39 to 51 W/m-K 22 to 30 BTU/h-ft-°F
Thermal Expansion
13 µm/m-K
Electrical Properties
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Volume
7.2 to 7.4 % IACS
Electrical Conductivity: Equal Weight (Specific)
8.2 to 8.4 % IACS
Otherwise Unclassified Properties
Base Metal Price
2.4 to 3.0 % relative
Density
7.8 to 7.9 g/cm3 490 lb/ft3
Embodied Carbon
1.5 to 1.6 kg CO2/kg material
Embodied Energy
20 to 21 MJ/kg 8.7 to 9.2 x 103 BTU/lb
Embodied Water
48 to 50 L/kg 5.8 to 6.0 gal/lb
Common Calculations
Resilience: Ultimate (Unit Rupture Work)
110 to 120 MJ/m3
Resilience: Unit (Modulus of Resilience)
330 to 410 kJ/m3
Stiffness to Weight: Axial
13 points
Stiffness to Weight: Bending
24 points
Strength to Weight: Axial
21 to 22 points
Strength to Weight: Bending
20 to 21 points
Thermal Diffusivity
10 to 14 mm2/s
Thermal Shock Resistance
17 to 18 points
Followup Questions
Further Reading
ASTM A302: Standard Specification for Pressure Vessel Plates, Alloy Steel, Manganese-Molybdenum and Manganese-Molybdenum-Nickel
Pressure Vessels: External Pressure Technology, 2nd ed., Carl T. F. Ross, 2011
Properties and Selection: Irons, Steels and High Performance Alloys, ASM Handbook vol. 1, ASM International, 1993
Manufacture and Uses of Alloy Steels, Henry D. Hibbard, 2005
Ferrous Materials: Steel and Cast Iron, Hans Berns and Werner Theisen, 2008
CRC Materials Science and Engineering Handbook, 4th ed., James F. Shackelford et al. (editors), 2015
Steels: Processing, Structure, and Performance, 2nd ed., George Krauss, 2015