American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). Current edition approved March 1, 2006. Published April 2006. Originally approved in 1972. Last previous edition approved in 2000 as A 663/A 663M – 89 (2000). 3 p. This specification covers hot-wrought merchant quality carbon steel bars and bar size shapes produced to mechanical property requirements and intended for noncritical constructional applications (see 7.2).