Surgical Steel vs Titanium: Deep into the Properties, Piercings, and Suitability

You surely know that the strongest metal is titanium, and the alloy is steel that we frequently use in our daily lives. Both are superior in their perspective because having excellent chemical and physical properties. But their alloys are totally different from their base material. Titanium and surgical steel have many similarities and sometimes it becomes difficult to choose the right material for a given project. Our focus here will be discussing titanium and surgical steel. The properties, applications and their advantages based on their properties will be discussed here.

Introduction to Surgical Steel and Titanium

stainless steel is the commonly used alloy in every field. It has superior strength and excellent corrosion properties. Similarly, titanium is also a comparable metal. It has similar strength to stainless steel has. But the strength to weight ratio is much less than steel. This means it is a lighter material and has the same features as stainless steel.

Overview of Surgical Steel

Surgical steel is one of the alloys of stainless steel. It has a specific amount of nickel which makes it differ from stainless steel. Generic stainless steel cannot be used for jewelry for having chemical element like small amount of nickel. Steel is treated in a special way to become biocompatible with our body and surgical steel is one of them. and that’s how body implants and jewelry can be made from surgical steel. surgical steel also has many alloys and not all are biocompatible.

Biocompatible grades are 316L surgical steel and 316LVM surgical steel. carbon content is very low in them, and the alloying elements are trapped inside them which are difficult to remove from alloy. This implied if a person has some allergic reaction to some alloy, that alloy cannot be released from the steel.

Overview of Titanium

Titanium (Ti) is a lightweight material unlike steels which are heavier. The hardness and durability of Ti is greater than steel. Titanium is also a biocompatible metal. For jewelry purposes, titanium is comfortable to wear and looks smart because of a range of color selection. Ti can undergo anodizing and can have single or multi-color jewelry pieces. Anodizing is safe for other properties of metal. It maintains all the features while adding more color and beauty to the metal.

Is Surgical Steel the Same as Titanium?

The answer is no. Surgical steel is an alloy of higher chromium content than stainless steel. This increases its corrosion resistance. Titanium is a metal which has higher strength to weight ratio. However, titanium is difficult to machine while surgical steel is not. Ti is stronger than steel and is suitable for heavy duty applications like for aerospace industry. stainless steel is more corrosion resistant and therefore, it is used in medical industry and food industries.

Difference between surgical steel and titanium: Mechanical and Physical Properties

The physical and mechanical properties of surgical steel and titanium are as:

Longevity and Wear Resistance: Does Galvanized Steel Rust?

Yes, galvanized steel rust. But there are some factors and one of them is zinc coating integrity. Galvanized steel has high wear resistance and is a very corrosion resistant alloy. It can last long for decades because zinc coating takes long to get rust.

Is Titanium More Durable than Stainless Steel?

Titanium has higher durability and strength than stainless steel. It is excellent for heavy duty applications. Steel is superior in corrosion resistant properties. Surgical steel is a better option for bioimplant and other medical applications.

Weight Considerations

Titanium has a higher strength to weight ratio than steel. Ti has the same strength in comparison with steel. but it much lighter than surgical steel. It has 50% less density than surgical steels. Titanium has 4.5g/cm ³ density while steel has 8g/cm ³ . The weight of titanium is 40% lighter than steel.

Steel vs. Titanium: Which Metal Can Better Conduct?

Titanium is a better thermal and electrical conductor. Electrical conductivity of titanium is 18Ms/m. stainless steel has conductivity from 10 to 15MS/m. on the other hand, thermal conductivity of Ti is 118BTU-in/hr/ft ^{2 ᵒ} F. stainless steel has thermal conductivity of 70-238118BTU-in/hr/ft ^{2 ᵒ} F.

Biocompatibility and Corrosion Resistance

Corrosion resistance of titanium is excellent in harsh atmosphere. However, stainless steels are vulnerable to corrosion in few environments. Titanium has less high strength to weight ratio which is good for weight sensitive uses. The availability of steel is common and is less expensive than titanium, but titanium is biocompatible for bioimplants and has more corrosion resistance to body fluid. Commercially pure TI and some of its alloys has exceptional biocompatible features and also is human tissue compatible.

Interaction with Human Tissue

Interaction of Ti is exceptional with human body. it is less vulnerable to produce an allergic reaction or immune reaction. This is due to the better corrosion resistance nature as compared to the implants made of surgical steel.

However, there are some consequences if heavy amount of metal stays in the body. These are chest tightening and pain, cough, difficult breathing, and irritation in body. Titanium is considered safe for our body environment.

High corrosion resistance and strength of Ti does not rust or faint the surface. this feature is idea for jewelry. Ti is hypoallergenic and is suitable for people who get allergic reactions easily. It minimizes the risk of infection and irritation to skin.

Corrosion Resistance in Physiological Environments

Surgical steel and Ti both are biocompatible materials. Bacterial growth is hindered on the surface of steel. This is important for biomedical applications. Other than that, high corrosion resistance is a plus point. Titanium has better corrosion properties in physiological environments. Titanium alloys does not corrode in body fluids. But metal ions are diffused slowly through the oxide layers. These ions accumulated around the body tissues. Titanium has an external natural oxide protective layer. This is produced when it is exposed to an aerated environment. Hence, titanium is a better choice for biomedical applications.

Surgical Stainless Steel vs. Titanium: Corrosion Resistance

Corrosion resistance of surgical steel and titanium are close to each other. But for various reasons titanium is preferred for biomedical application. In other fields stainless steel is preferred where corrosion properties are the requirements. These fields are aerospace, automotive, construction and aerospace, etc.

Is titanium better than surgical steel for piercings?

Yes, Ti is a better option for many reasons. One of them is superior biocompatibility. The human body does not consider Ti as foreign material. clinical research has found that Titanium has lesser complications after piercing when compared with surgical steel.

Surgical Applications and Design Considerations

For surgical applications, Titanium showed better strength when a repeated stress is applied to the bioimplant Ti. It also can survive the strain of internal fixation. The durability and lifetime of Ti orthopedics implants is longer than other metallic objects. These implants require high stress to break the bonding between joints and implants.

Surgical Instruments

1. Choice of Steel for Better Instruments

For surgical instruments, steel has always been a preferred choice. Stainless steel grades like 316, martensite 440, 420 and 17-4 stainless steel are the most common surgical steels. These are used in making surgical instruments like forceps, needle holders, scissors, retractors, clamps, hemostats and many more.

2. Titanium: A Better Choice for Certain Applications?

The use of titanium for biomedical applications like joint replacement, orthopedic implant and also for body piercing and jewelry has become very common. Titanium implantation is due to the combination of many properties. These are corrosion immunity. High shear strength, less density, high biocompatibility and osteointegration.

Implantable Medical Devices

Implantable medical devices are those which are fully or partially implanted in the body. surgery is conducted to implant these devices. These are stayed in the body after the completion of surgery unlike the surgical devices which are used for conducting surgery.

Implant Grade Titanium vs Surgical Steel

Implant Grade Titanium is less prone to cause any allergic reaction. Surgical steel, in some cases, can cause irritation to the skin. Surgical steels have nickel in a very lesser amount. This can react to the immune system. Nickle allergy is very common in human bodies. This allergy has potential to complicate the healing mechanism to the body piercing wound.

316l surgical steel vs titanium

316l surgical steel has double stiffness than Ti. Internal fracture fixation is more rigid with 316l surgical steel than Ti. Therefore, 316l surgical steel has a speedy healing process at fractured area. However, titanium has high strength to weight ratio which increases its demand as joint replacement and orthopedic implants.

Body Piercing Aftercare: Material Considerations

For body piercing, 316l surgical steels are recommended. These are better for delicate body parts. But due to the presence of small amount of nickel, it can cause allergic reactions to those who have metal allergies. It is important to have body piercing aftercare. These includes to avoid excessive touching, clean the wound daily and maintain healthy lifestyle to have speedy process of healing fresh wounds.  It is also a more cost-effective option than titanium.

Custom Design and Manufacturing Challenges

Small Amount of Alloy: Added Value in Manufacturing

Adding small amount of alloys increases many important properties in steel. Ti-alloys, Co-Cr alloys and stainless-steel alloys are the preferred choices for biomedical applications. They all have excellent corrosion resistance and other properties like strength and density which increases their demands for biomedical uses.

Titanium and Surgical Steel: Custom CNC Machining Services

Titanium is weldable and can be CNC Machined. Stainless steel already has excellent features to be CNC machined. Ti in inert atmosphere can also undergo finish processes. These are powder coating, anodizing, electrophoresis and many more.

This comparison is crafted to help you discern how Surgical Steel and Titanium will directly benefit your CNC machining needs, emphasizing the machinability, cost-effectiveness, and application-specific advantages of each material.

Anodizing Titanium for Added Durability and Rainbow Colors

Anodized titanium has higher durability than pure Ti. The commonly used colors for anodizing are bronze, blue, yellow, purple, pink and green. The color on anodized Ti has dependency on the thickness of oxide layer. For jewelry and body piercing Ti is preferred due to rainbow color options.

Advances in Material Science

Material science has progressed to have other new biomedical materials than 316l surgical steel and titanium alloys. These are now ceramics, polymers, and recent advancement includes living cells and tissue that can form a biomaterial. These can be remolded as coating, fiber, film, foam and fabric for implant medical devices and surgical devices.

What is Better Titanium or Stainless Steel?

Titanium has high strength to weight ratio than steel. this feature is suitable for heavy-duty applications such in aerospace industry. As a biomaterial, titanium is preferred for many options due to better corrosion resistance. surgical devices are normally made of stainless steel and in some cases, it is used in fixation in fractured area inside the human body.

New Alloy Steel and Titanium Combinations

Titanium is preferred due to high strength to weight ratio. But now there are new alloys steels are in progressed to overcome this limitation. These new alloy steel that belongs to “super steel alloys’ and ‘High strength alloy steel (HSLA)’ are less costly than titanium. However, some titanium alloy like Ti-4Al-6V have no substitute for few applications in bioengineering.

The Role of 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing

3d printing is emerging in surgical field. in biomedicine, 3d printing has high potential to enable the production of patient-specific medical tool, body implants, tissue, and in some cases, organs.

Surgical Steel vs Titanium: What’s the More Valuable Choice for Your Project?

Titanium is better for being lighter. Steel, however, widely available, and cost-effective option. titanium has high compatibility and have more application as medical implants. Biocompatibility of 316l surgical steel is less and can cause allergic reaction by metal allergies in human bodies. This is due to small amount of nickel present in it.

Recommendations for Safe and Effective Material Selection

Implant grade titanium is recommended for body piercing, jewelry and for implants. It is safer than 316l surgical steel because of having no allergic reaction and no amount of nickel present in it.

Always Evolving: The Future of Surgical Materials

Surgical materials have been evolving with latest properties and have lesser limitation. New alloy steels have been developing along with the latest surgical methods and devices. Surgical robots are latest one. These robots are becoming more sophisticated in conducting surgeries with no error and more precises than a physicist.

Conclusion

Surgical steel is an alloy. It has chemical element like iron-carbon alloy with small amount of nickel and chromium. Titanium is a pure metal. Ti is expensive than steels. But it has high strength, lightweight and high corrosion resistance. Surgical steel grade 316l surgical is famous for body piercing. It is strong, cost-effective and has high durability. But due to presence of small amount of nickel it can cause allergic reactions of metal allergies. Titanium is biocompatible material and is hypoallergic material. this means when it introduced in the body, it is not considered as foreign material. but it is expensive than steels.

FAQ

What is Implant Grade Titanium?

Implant grade titanium has no nickel. It is hypoallergic and has higher corrosion resistance. it is darker silver in color.

Best Metal for New Piercings

Implant grade titanium is recommended for new piercings. It has no allergic reaction and no metal allergies associated with it.

Is Surgical Steel Piercing Magnetic?

Yes, surgical steel is magnetic. To know the presence of magnetism, piercing steel will stick to the magnet or it will rust with the passage of time.