ASTM B348 Titanium Bar & Billet: Grades, Properties and How to Specify

Titanium round bar weight per metre, by diameter

Bar is quoted by weight and machined from stock that is bought by weight, so the first number a buyer needs is kilograms per metre. The table covers the diameters most often specified for machined parts, fasteners and forging stock, in the two grades that account for most industrial and structural work.

Theoretical weight for round bar follows from the cross-section:

W (kg/m) = π × d² × ρ ÷ 4000, with the diameter d in millimetres and the density ρ in g/cm³.

The densities used are 4.51 g/cm³ for commercially pure Grade 2 and 4.43 g/cm³ for Grade 5. Grade 7 and Grade 12 are close enough to Grade 2 for estimating, and Grade 23 is close to Grade 5, but a purchase order should use the density for the grade actually being supplied. Two other sections come up often enough to be worth the formulas: square bar is W = a² × ρ ÷ 1000 for a side length a in millimetres, and flat bar is W = w × t × ρ ÷ 1000 for width w and thickness t.

Machining allowance is the figure that turns a theoretical weight into a purchase quantity. A part turned from round bar needs stock above the finished diameter, and the size that gets ordered is therefore a standard diameter above the drawing dimension, rather than the drawing dimension itself. State the finished dimension and the allowance separately so the supplier can propose the nearest available size instead of guessing. Square, hexagonal and flat sections, and diameters between the rows above, can be worked directly in the titanium weight calculator.

Sizes quoted. Beiyu Titanium’s broader bar supply range includes round bar from 1 mm to 500 mm in diameter, square bar from 3 by 3 mm to 500 by 500 mm, flat bar from 3 by 12.7 mm to 30 by 500 mm, and hexagonal bar up to 17 mm across flats, in lengths up to 6,000 mm. Tolerance classes h6 to h9 and H6 to H9 are reviewed against the ordered feature. The range includes Grade 1 to 7, 9, 11, 12, 16, 17 and 23, plus Ti-6242, Ti-6246, Ti-15333, Ti-6Al-7Nb, 13Nb-13Zr and Nitinol. This is not a list of alloys all covered by ASTM B348; available grade-size-condition combinations require quotation review. Beiyu’s catalogue uses R, M or Y condition codes and lists hot rolling, forging, polished and sandblasted options. Match the alloy, form and condition to its governing specification: ASTM B348, ASME SB348, ASTM F67, F136, ISO 5832-2, ISO 5832-3, AMS 4928 or AMS-T-9047 only where applicable.

Condition, surface and tolerance class: the three fields that change the price

State delivery condition, surface and tolerance separately. Beiyu’s catalogue uses R, M and Y; the meanings below also appear in GB/T 2965-2007, Table 1. This historical reference explains the labels, not the acceptance requirements for an ASTM order. Write the condition in full and confirm it against the ordered specification and edition.

State dimensional tolerance as explicit limits or an agreed class under ISO 286. Beiyu reviews h6 to h9 and H6 to H9 against the ordered feature; h-classes apply to shaft dimensions and H-classes to hole dimensions. A drawing that says “h7” sets a dimensional requirement, not a manufacturing process. Confirm the production route, surface condition and any machining allowance separately.

Frequently asked questions

What sizes of titanium bar can be supplied? Round bar from 1 mm to 500 mm in diameter, square bar from 3 by 3 mm to 500 by 500 mm, flat bar from 3 by 12.7 mm to 30 by 500 mm, and hexagonal bar up to 17 mm across flats, all in lengths up to 6,000 mm.

Is ASTM B348 the same as ASME SB348? Do not assume that all editions have identical requirements. For ASME Code work, confirm the applicable BPVC edition, the SB-348 requirements and any ASME exceptions. ASME Section II includes tables of acceptable editions of adopted material specifications. State the required standard and edition on the purchase order.

Can one bar carry both ASTM B348 and ASTM F67 or F136? Dual certification requires demonstrated compliance with each specified edition; an F136 certificate alone does not establish B348 compliance. ASTM F67 covers unalloyed titanium for surgical implants, while ASTM F136 covers the ELI alloy. State both required specifications, the grade, product form, condition and document scope before ordering. Beiyu reviews whether the proposed material route and records can meet both sets of requirements before confirming dual certification.

What is the difference between bar and billet under B348? The same specification covers both. Bar is limited by cross-section, and material above that limit is classed and supplied as billet or forged stock to the same grade requirements. Bar is ordered by section, length and tolerance class; billet is ordered by section and cut weight for further hot working.

Which condition should be specified for machined parts? Use the condition required by the drawing and ordered material specification. M means annealed in the historical GB/T reference cited above; the catalogue code alone does not establish compliance. Confirm any proposed cold-worked or as-rolled delivery against the specified grade, edition and acceptance requirements before ordering.

How is the weight per metre calculated? W (kg/m) = π × d² × ρ ÷ 4,000 for round bar, with the diameter in millimetres and the density in g/cm³, using 4.51 for commercially pure grades and 4.43 for Grade 5. The table earlier on this page gives the common diameters.

What documents come with the bar? A mill test certificate with chemistry, mechanical results and heat number. EN 10204 type 3.1 inspection documents, ultrasonic examination and third-party inspection are ordered separately and have to be on the purchase order rather than requested after production.

What melting and inspection sit behind Beiyu bar

Material supplied by Beiyu is produced on a triple vacuum arc remelt route, meaning the manufacturing mill remelts the ingot three times under vacuum. A third remelt is bought for cleanliness rather than for compliance, which is the general reason the route exists: melt count is not what a chemistry table checks, so a double melted heat can satisfy the same composition limits. Because it is a route rather than a test result, the way to confirm it is heat by heat in the documentation supplied with the order rather than from a datasheet.

Beiyu Titanium’s documented precision ground bar route, diameter 3.175 to 25.4 mm, includes the five inspections below at 100 percent coverage, meaning every bar rather than a sample from the lot. Chemistry and tensile results are obtained from samples. The ultrasonic settings below describe that documented route. Other bar sizes, finishing routes and billet require their own agreed inspection scope; these five checks and settings do not apply automatically to the full supply range.

Those six lines are worth writing onto a purchase order rather than accepting the words “ultrasonic tested”, because a scan only becomes a meaningful pass or fail examination once the method, the coverage, the calibration reflector and the acceptance class are all fixed. With every other condition held equal, a scan calibrated against a larger reflector will pass material that a Φ1.2 mm setting rejects, and both suppliers can print the same three words on the certificate. Note that the flat bottom hole is a calibration target, not a statement that every discontinuity of that size is detected.

Specification detail with sources

ASTM B348 accepts titanium bar on ductility as well as strength, and the ductility rows are the ones certificates get challenged on. The standard’s mechanical tables require annealed Grade 2 bar to reach at least 20 percent elongation with 30 percent reduction of area, annealed Grade 5 to reach 10 percent elongation with 25 percent reduction of area, and Grade 23 to match that 10 percent elongation but with a 15 percent reduction-of-area floor under B348, against 25 percent when the same ELI alloy is forged to ASTM B381. Reduction of area is a bar and forging requirement only: ASTM B265 flat product does not test it, so a chemistry-identical plate certificate still lacks one of the results that bar acceptance needs.

Beiyu Titanium supplies the billet end of ASTM B348 as forged rounds from 50 to 500 mm diameter in lengths to 3,000 mm and forged blocks from 50 to 600 mm, quoted by section and cut weight for further hot working. Penn Ma, who has run titanium export at Beiyu for 15 years, reviews each bar and billet enquiry across 6 fields before quotation: grade, standard, dimensions, tolerance, surface condition and inspection scope, so the elongation and reduction-of-area reporting on the certificate matches the product form actually ordered.

Request ASTM B348 titanium bar or billet

Send grade, diameter or section size, length, condition, surface finish, quantity and certificate requirement. Include AMS or UT requirements if the drawing calls for them. What the certificate itself must show, line by line, is covered in who supplies ASTM B348 bar with EN 10204 3.1 certificates.

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