ISO 683-2:2016 specifies the technical delivery requirements for

- semi-finished products, hot formed, e.g. blooms, billets, slabs (see Note 1),

- bars (see Note 1),

- wire rod,

finished flat products, and

- hammer or drop forgings (see Note 1)

manufactured from the direct hardening alloy steels and the alloy flame- and induction-hardening steels listed in Table 3 and supplied in one of the heat-treatment conditions given for the different types of products in Table 1 and in one of the surface conditions given in Table 2.

The steels are, in general, intended for the manufacture of quenched and tempered or austempered (see 3.2 and Note 2) and flame- or induction-hardened machine parts (see Tables 8 and 9).

The requirements for mechanical properties given in ISO 683-2:2016 are restricted to the sizes given in the relevant Table 8.

NOTE 1 Hammer-forged semi-finished products (blooms, billets, slabs, etc.), seamless rolled rings and hammer-forged bars are in the following covered under semi-finished products or bars and not under the term "hammer and drop forgings".

NOTE 2 For the purposes of simplification, the term "quenched and tempered" is, unless otherwise indicated, used in the following also for the austempered condition.

NOTE 3 For International Standards relating to steels complying with the requirements for the chemical composition in Table 3, however, supplied in other product forms or treatment conditions than given above or intended for special applications, and for other related International Standards, see the Bibliography.

NOTE 4 ISO 683-2 :2016 does not apply to bright products and bars and wire rod for cold heading. For such products, see ISO 683‑18 and ISO 4954.

In special cases, variations in these technical delivery requirements or additions to them can form the subject of an agreement at the time of enquiry and order (see 5.2 and Annex B).

In addition to ISO 683-2:2016, the general technical delivery requirements of ISO 404 are applicable.