classification based on use

Steels are classified two ways at once, by commercial name or application and by structure, and the chart below puts the two side by side. The application column is what the selection pages on this page are indexed by; the structure column is what decides how a steel behaves once it is hardened.

Chart classifying steels by commercial name and application, and by structure, from plain carbon through alloy, stainless and heat resistant grades
Fig. 1.1. The two ways a steel is classified. The left column sorts by commercial name or application, which is the axis the selection pages below are indexed on; the right sorts by structure, which is the axis that decides what the steel does when it is hardened. Adapted from D.M. Stefanescu, University of Alabama, as published in A.K. Sinha, C. Wu and G. Liu, Steel Nomenclature, in Steel Heat Treatment: Metallurgy and Technologies (G.E. Totten, ed.), CRC Press, 2006, Fig. 1.1.

Selection of Steels for Cold-Heading Dies

Selection of Steels for Coining Dies

Selection of Steels for Cold-Work Dies and Punches

Wear resistance and toughness of tool steels for cold-work dies and punches for blanking

Selection of Tool Steels for Cold Forming Hexagon Nuts

Selection of Steels for Cold Extrusion

Selection of Steels for Shears

Selection of Steels for Die-Forging and Press-Forging Tools

Tool steels for hot-forging

Tool steels for rolling-mill rolls

Tool steels for die-casting dies