ISO/TR 15608:2017

Overview

ISO/TR 15608:2017 - "Welding - Guidelines for a metallic materials grouping system" is an ISO Technical Report that defines a uniform system for grouping metallic materials for welding purposes. The guidelines cover standardized material families including steels, aluminium and its alloys, copper and copper alloys, nickel and nickel alloys, titanium and titanium alloys, zirconium and zirconium alloys, and cast irons. Although focused on welding, the grouping system can also be applied to heat treatment, forming and non‑destructive testing (NDT) and helps standardize material classification across specifications and procedures.

Key topics

• Material grouping by composition and properties: Groups are primarily defined by elemental content (e.g., Cr, Ni, Mo, V for steels) and by specified mechanical properties such as minimum yield strength when relevant.
• Steels: A detailed grouping scheme (groups 1–11) covering low‑alloy, Cr‑Mo, stainless (ferritic, martensitic, austenitic, duplex), quenched & tempered, thermomechanically treated and high‑strength steels. The report notes use of ladle (heat) analysis preferred where available.
• Aluminium alloys: Groups 21–26 separate pure aluminium, non‑heat‑treatable (Mn, Mg series), heat‑treatable (Mg‑Si, Zn‑Mg) and common cast alloys (Al‑Si and Al‑Cu).
• Copper alloys: Groups 31–38 classify copper, brasses (Cu‑Zn), bronzes (Cu‑Sn), Cu‑Ni, Cu‑Al and other low/high alloy copper grades.
• Nickel, titanium and zirconium: Nickel alloys (41–48) by dominant alloying elements; titanium (51–54) grouped by oxygen content and alloy type (alpha, alpha‑beta, near‑beta/beta); zirconium as pure and Zr‑Nb.
• Cast irons: Groups 71–76 include grey, spheroidal graphite (ductile), malleable, austempered and austenitic cast irons.
• Administrative notes: ISO/TR 15608:2017 is a Technical Report (no normative references listed), prepared by ISO/TC 44/SC 10; the fourth edition revised steel grouping and updated the bibliography.

Practical applications and users

Who benefits:

• Welding engineers and procedure writers - for selecting compatible filler metals and qualifying welding procedures.
• Materials and design engineers - for consistent material classification across design, fabrication and inspection.
• Quality assurance, NDT and heat‑treatment specialists - to group materials for testing, acceptance criteria and process planning.
• Fabricators, suppliers and standards writers - for specifying materials, ensuring interoperability and reducing ambiguity in procurement.

Practical uses:

• Simplifying welding procedure qualification matrixes by grouping similar materials.
• Choosing appropriate consumables and pre/post‑weld treatments based on group compatibility.
• Standardizing material acceptance, NDT approaches and forming/heat‑treatment process families.

Related standards

• ISO/TR 20172 - European materials grouping
• ISO/TR 20173 - American materials grouping
• ISO/TR 20174 - Japanese materials grouping

Keywords: ISO/TR 15608:2017, welding material grouping, metallic materials grouping system, material classification for welding, steels grouping, aluminium alloys, copper alloys, nickel alloys, titanium alloys, cast iron grouping.