What is 316L Surgical-Grade Stainless Steel – Applications of 316L Stainless Steel

316L is an austenitic molybdenum alloy stainless steel bar with enhanced machinability. In comparison to alloy 304, the inclusion of Mo significantly increases the product’s corrosion resistance, particularly with regard to pitting and crevice corrosion in a chloride environment. 316L is resistant to air corrosion and has moderate oxidation and reduction. It is also resistant to corrosion in contaminated marine environments. In its welded state, the alloy exhibits exceptional resistance to intergranular corrosion. It delivers higher creep, fracture stress, and tensile strength at high temperatures compared to basic alloy 304. As a fully austenitic steel, it possesses exceptional tensile strength, even at low temperatures.

Medical (Biomedical) stainless steel is an iron-based corrosion-resistant alloy, which is one of the earliest biomedical alloys developed. It is characterized by easy processing, low price, corrosion resistance, and yield strength and can be improved by cold processing to avoid fatigue fracture. Among them, the most widely used is austenitic ultra-low carbon stainless steel 316L. The biocompatibility and related problems of 316L medical stainless steel are mainly related to the tissue reactions caused by corrosion products caused by corrosion or wear after the stainless steel are implanted into the human body, such as edema, infection, tissue necrosis, etc., resulting in pain and allergic reactions. Especially for the serious pathological changes induced by nickel ion precipitation in stainless steel, the 316L austenitic ultra-low carbon medical stainless steel commonly used contains about 10% nickel. In recent years, low-nickel and nickel-free medical stainless steel is gradually developed and applied.