"416 stainless steel for surgical parts"

Question:

"We currently switched from 410ss to 416ss in a sugical part that had a lot of machining operations. These new parts are rusting in the steam sterilization process in the hospitals. Is there a simple way to increase the corrosion resistance of the 416 (ie- electropolishing)? The part must be ferro-magnetic, easily machined and give us adequate resistence to hospital and clinical sterilization. What can we use? Our best solution so far is 17-4ph. If there is any way of treating our current production run of 416ss parts (to increase there resistance to sterilization) i would love to know."

Answer:

Unfortunantly, the added sulfur in 416SS directionally decreases its corrosion resistance compared with 410SS. I know of no good fix without upgrading to a more resistant alloy, such as 17-4PH.

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