Surgical stainless steel Surgical stainless steel Surgical stainless steel is a grade of stainless steel used in biomedical applications. The most common "surgical steels" are austenitic 316 stainless and martensitic 440 and 420 stainless steels. There is no formal definition on what constitutes a "surgical stainless steel", so product manufacturers and distributors apply the term to refer to any grade of corrosion resistant steel. 316 stainless steel, also referred to as marine grade stainless steel, is a chromium, nickel, molybdenum alloy of steel that exhibits relatively good strength and corrosion resistance. Along with the titanium alloy Ti6Al4V, 316 stainless is a common choice
Marine grade stainless Marine grade stainless Marine grade stainless steel is a misunderstood description. There is no industry recognized definition for a marine grade stainless steel though it is routinely used by many end-users. In a marine environment it must be made clear as to whether the stainless steel is submerged in seawater or is simply near enough to the seashore such that it can be attacked by the chloride present in seawater by splashing or carried by onshore breeze. Chloride ions can cause localized corrosive attack (pitting and crevice corrosion) of susceptible stainless steels. When submerged a stainless steel with a PREN