The key difference between surgical steel and stainless steel is that stainless steel has various applications whereas surgical steel is a type of stainless steel mainly having biomedical applications.
Surgical steel and stainless steel are two types of alloys. An alloy is a mixture of two or more elements. It is produced from mixing metal with some other elements (metals or nonmetals, or both) to obtain a material that has enhanced properties compared to the original metal. Surgical steel is a type of stainless steel useful in biomedical applications. Stainless steel is an alloy of steel with high chromium content. These two forms of steel are useful in many applications due to their corrosion-resistant property and good strength.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Surgical Steel
3. What is Stainless Steel
4. Surgical Steel vs Stainless Steel in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Surgical Steel vs Stainless Steel
What is Surgical Steel?
Surgical steel is a type of stainless steel useful in biomedical applications. There are some common grades of this steel, including austenitic SAE 316 stainless steel and martensitic SAE 440, SAE 420 and 17-4 stainless steel. Surgical stainless steel typically contains relatively good strength and corrosion resistance.
Moreover, SAE 316 and SAE 316L consist of chromium, nickel, and molybdenum alloy, which exhibit relatively good strength and good corrosion resistance. Furthermore, 316L is the low carbon form of 316 steel. 316L steel is biocompatible compared to other forms of steel. Therefore, we can use them in body modification implants. Also, we can use 316 grade for the manufacturing and handling of food and pharmaceutical products for the minimizing of metallic contaminations.
What is Stainless Steel?
Stainless steel is an alloy of steel with high chromium content. Therefore, it has great corrosion resistance. Typically, this alloy contains about 10.5% chromium and 1.2% carbon by weight of the alloy. With increasing chromium content, the corrosion resistance also increases. Moreover, the addition of some molybdenum into this mixture can increase resistance against acids. Stainless steel is available in the forms of sheets, plates, bars, wires, tubes, etc.
The production process of stainless steel has several important steps: melting and casting, forming, heat treatment, descaling, cutting and finishing. Furthermore, the basic raw materials for this production are iron ore, chromium, silicon, nickel, carbon, nitrogen, and manganese. By adding varying amounts of these elements, we can obtain different properties as desired. For instance, adding more nitrogen will increase the tensile strength.
What is the Difference Between Surgical Steel and Stainless Steel?
Surgical steel and stainless steel are useful in many applications due to their corrosion-resistant property and good strength. Stainless steel is an alloy of steel with a high chromium content. There are various grades and forms of stainless steel. Surgical steel is one of them. It has very high corrosion resistance and is biocompatible, unlike most other stainless steel. The key difference between surgical steel and stainless steel is that stainless steel has various applications whereas surgical steel is a type of stainless steel mainly having biomedical applications.
The following table summarizes the difference between surgical steel and stainless steel.
Summary – Surgical Steel vs Stainless Steel
Surgical steel and stainless steel are useful in many applications due to their corrosion-resistant property and good strength. The key difference between surgical steel and stainless steel is that stainless steel has various applications whereas surgical steel is a type of stainless steel mainly having biomedical applications.
Reference:
1. “Surgical Stainless Steel.” An Overview | ScienceDirect Topics.
2. “Stainless Steel – Properties, Grades and Applications.” Fractory, 5 May 2021.
Image Courtesy:
1. “Tweezers made of martensitic stainless steel JIS SUS410” By Yapparina – Own work (CC0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “India – Chennai – Stainless Steel shops – 05 (3016122780)” By McKay Savage from London, UK – India – Chennai – Stainless Steel shops – 05 (CC BY 2.0) via Commons Wikimedia