Since ancient times, people have tried to use steel for medical purposes. The first experiments did not end very well: it rusted, in some cases causing the death of the patient. But science did not stand still. Metallurgy developed: production and alloying technologies improved, new metals were discovered. As a result, in 1666, a certain Fabricius first successfully performed an operation, fastening the broken sections of the bone with a steel ring. This is how the concept of surgical steel came into use.
Properties of surgical steel
So, there is no “surgical steel” brand. This is a general name for a group of alloys used for the production of medical equipment, instruments, and parts for prosthetics. The main requirement is that the steel should not be porous.
The holes make it difficult to disinfect appliances, making them a breeding ground for bacteria. The alloy should not rust. Therefore, for example, grades of surgical steel U7A and U9A are discarded. They are not resistant to corrosion.
Surgical stainless steel is also distinguished by its hardness. The material must withstand impacts, not scratch or crumble. Hardness allows the tool not to become dull for a long time. In addition, you can make the thinnest possible blade or part without fear that they will bend or break.
Manufacturers and exposure to chemicals are excluded. The alloy, as they say, is inert. Put it in either acid or alkali, steel will not react with them. The material does not react with the body. The alloy is non-toxic, although it contains chromium or nickel. Add manganese and chromium to the mixture of iron and carbon.
The photo shows surgical steel tunnels
Examples of brands: - 40X13, 65X13, 95X13. Products made from surgical steel from foreign manufacturers can be marked, for example, as follows: - SUS440C, AlSl420.
The designations in the West are different, but the composition of the alloys is the same.
Special processing
Medical steels have all the necessary characteristics for their use as tools, devices, and equipment. To reduce brittleness in production, each steel is sometimes “tempered.” The hardness indicator is reduced to 50-52 units. The essence of the process is as follows: parts are heated in a technological furnace to 1050ºС, then sharply cooled in a liquid medium - oil, water or emulsion. After this, the metal is heated again, cooling simply in air.
In this way, especially important instruments are made where plasticity is needed and fragility must be avoided: scissors, clamps, forceps, scalpels. After tempering, all instruments retain good thermal insulation, sparkling appearance, good ductility, and ease of use for a long time. The devices serve for a long period, performing their functions perfectly.
Application
Steels used in medicine also find “work” in other areas. Thus, the AlSl430 brand is also called food grade. It contains a lot of chromium and little carbon. They are used in medicine to a limited extent due to their high plasticity. But the material is excellent for creating containers; it is easily stretched, stamped, and perforated.
The food industry also includes the production of kitchen utensils. This is also where surgical steel comes in handy. It’s unlikely that anyone will want to buy cabinets with rusting fasteners and handles. Washing machines also require stainless steel. It is also needed in trays for dishwashers. The dishes themselves are made from alloy. The emphasis is on its strength, chemical resistance, and harmlessness.
Surgical steel utensils by cosmetologists' instruments. Nail clippers, scissors, curling irons. All this cannot be done without an iron-based mixture. Architects, builders and designers cannot cope without it.
Many buildings, for example, are designed in high-tech style. It cannot do without metal surfaces. Therefore, houses are clad in steel panels, which gives an industrial look. But what would happen if the shiny surface rusted, broke, or scratched?
In the photo there is a chain with a cross made of surgical steel
The value of surgical steel is also known in mechanical engineering. Most of the alloy is used for the manufacture of accessories for cars, exhaust elements, and heat exchange equipment. Jewelers were not left out either. They make jewelry from the alloy. Surgical steel is used to form chains, earrings, brooches, and bracelets. But we’ll talk about this separately.
Tips for choosing jewelry
When planning the purchase of jewelry, it is worth considering some points to minimize the risk of purchasing a low-quality item:
- Costume jewelry does not have the usual gold standard, but it has its own marking. A conscientious manufacturer will indicate on the stamp the amount of impurities and the number of carats of gold plating, if any. Carats are designated by the letter K and a number. 375 standard - the lowest for gold - is marked 9K (British system) or 36K (Russian system). Anything containing fewer gold carats is a jewelry alloy.
- The decoration is accompanied by a tag indicating the manufacturer, his details, and alloy composition. If stones are present, then information about them.
Irreplaceable surgical steel “works” not only in surgery. It is in demand in cosmetology and jewelry. We can say that any stainless material is medical steel. Represented by a whole group of metal alloys, this steel is often found, since almost every industry has found in it an excellent material with strength, heat resistance, and a long service life.
KnivesSteel VG1 for the food industry
Knives Aisi 4140 chrome-molybdenum steel and its Russian analogue 42HFA
Surgical steel jewelry
An example of a jewelry alloy is 316L. This composition is sometimes used for implants implanted into the body. So, a surgical steel chain is absolutely harmless. Jewelry can become an alternative for people with allergic reactions to gold, silver, and copper. But jewelers value medical alloy for something else. The composition is ideal in terms of performance, appearance and price.
The bracelet is made of surgical steel and matches the industrial style. Against the backdrop of buildings sparkling with smooth metal and exaggeratedly simple forms, jewels of ornate, sophisticated design sometimes look ridiculous.
Earrings made of surgical steel create an individual image that matches the era. It is also attractive that stainless steel products do not require special care. No need to clean it like silver.
There is no need to worry about scratches on the surface of the jewelry. There are few materials in the world that can leave a mark on medical steel. a surgical steel chain somewhere .
The photo shows a surgical steel piercing
The alloy is not precious. Jewelry made from improved iron - costume jewelry . At the same time, surgical steel is not inferior in properties to precious alloys; for example, it does not rust, like gold. Even in silver it is not recommended to swim.
Steel is not afraid of water. The chemical inertness of the composition is also comparable to platinum group metals. In general, there are a lot of advantages with significant savings on them. It's time to talk about the price of surgical steel.
Care
Despite the fact that the description of surgical steel states that it is undemanding in care, in order for the products to last longer, some rules still have to be followed:
- Medical instruments, as well as those used in cosmetology, should be protected from contamination. To do this, they must be stored in individual packages or in special boxes. After disinfection, before placing in the sterilizer, rinse with water to remove any remaining “chemicals”. This will prevent the drug from becoming more aggressive when exposed to high temperatures, which causes corrosion. Do not exceed the dosage of the disinfectant solution.
- Jewelry, regardless of composition, also requires attention:
- It is advisable to store each product in a separate container (bag, box);
- Wipe with a polishing cloth 1-2 times a week, removing traces of sebum and dirt;
- Wear gold-plated steel jewelry separately from others to avoid minor scratches.
Costume jewelry is worn after applying cosmetics so that chemicals do not leave traces in the form of stains and grease.
Price
The cost of a men's bracelet made of surgical steel will be the same, and a sheet of AlSl316L alloy will be different. For source codes they ask from 10 rubles. At the same time, the sheets from the factory differ in thickness. As a rule, they offer samples from 0.1 to 999 millimeters.
The sheets are also damaged when they are cut. For example, 1 by 2 meter plates are offered for 140, 218, 240 rubles. Depends on the manufacturer and the nuances of the alloy formula.
Some sellers set a price tag per kilogram or ton. For example, one of the companies in Nizhny Novgorod sells 1,000 kilograms of 316L steel for 416 rubles. On the jewelry market, this amount can be asked for a bracelet weighing about 30 grams. It all depends on the brand, the complexity of the design, and its compliance with the latest fashion trends.
Regarding jewelry, people most often ask about the cost of piercings. Surgical steel , being in the body, will not cause allergies or other negative consequences. Gold rods can bend, and are not accessible to everyone. As a rule, having made one puncture on the body, people tend to come to the salon again.
It is more profitable to purchase 20 steel jewelry than one precious one. For one barbell made of improved iron you will have to pay only 50-100 rubles. We are talking about 19 mm models without additional elements, for example, stones.
The photo shows a men's bracelet made of surgical steel
Surgical steel remains exotic only among wedding rings. Experts say it's a matter of time. The first samples for weddings have already been released. Newlyweds resort to them because of their special strength.
The wedding ring is worn without taking off. Gold is a soft metal. You have to constantly polish the symbol of love, getting rid of scratches.
Silver rings are covered with niello and do not tolerate moisture. But steel models are the true embodiment of durability and strength of relationships. There is also something sterile in the new trend, indicating the purity of feelings, it’s not for nothing that the alloy is medical.
Methods of obtaining
To obtain products that look like precious metal, the steel alloy is plated with gold. The most popular methods of gilding:
- Gold Filled – rolling. The workpiece is covered with the thinnest gold sheet, which is attached to an oil or adhesive base. To make the surface shiny, use glue, and if you want a matte surface, use oil varnish. On products coated with this method, it is necessary to indicate how many carats the gold leaf had.
- Gold Plated – by galvanic method. The product is polished, degreased and cleaned of the effects of oxidation. A thin layer of gold plating is then applied using an electric current.
To obtain a white tint, the object is coated with PVD. Vapors of precious metals are sprayed onto the product under vacuum, and it acquires a cool white shine.
In addition to spray-coated steel, various alloys are used. In Europe you can find an alloy of copper and zinc (9/1). Copper is cleaned, polished, and becomes like real gold.
If aluminum is used instead of zinc, the resulting product is called aural (aufor, aufir). In Germany this alloy is known as goldin.
There is a coating called music. It is based on tin and does not lose its qualities under the influence of environmental factors.
The combination of copper, zinc and tin is sold under the name Mannheim gold, and mosaic gold is a composition in which copper and zinc are almost equal.
The more copper, the lighter the resulting color. In French gold it is 80%, and zinc is only 15%. Decorations made from it are light yellow.
Where can you buy or sell
You can buy jewelry in large jewelry stores in Moscow or other regions of Russia. They often have departments selling costume jewelry made from alloys with semi-precious stones. Online stores also offer a large assortment of medical gold; you just need to enter a query in a search engine.
The catalogs contain detailed photos, which allows you to choose jewelry without leaving your home. The order can be delivered by courier, transport company or Russian Post.
6 years in jewelry making. Knows everything about samples and can identify a fake in 12 seconds
But if you are not an entrepreneur, you can sell jewelry only through private advertisement sites. Pawnshops rarely take gold-plated items. In the best case, if the coating is significant enough, they give a very small price for it.
Reviews
Natalya “I decided to check my rings to see if they were gold. The iodine method works, there are traces left on mine. It’s good that I didn’t think of smearing iodine on a cotton swab, but used a thin needle!”
Olga “I’ve met such shops with medical gold. Somehow I didn’t trust it, I was afraid, I thought it was some kind of fake. Now I understand that it is not a fake, but simply something completely different than gold. I’ll have to buy a set for the holiday!”
Irina “I had a bracelet made of medical gold. I wore it for about a year, most often I wore it in winter, in summer I don’t like jewelry on the skin. The lock was wiped first, then the links that were located nearby. The metal itself under the gilding turned out to be dark. But I enjoyed the year.”
Differences from gold
Most buyers cannot distinguish jewelry made from a medical alloy to look like gold from real precious metal. Unscrupulous sellers take advantage of this and try to sell them at a very inflated price. To avoid being scammed when purchasing jewelry, you must follow a few simple rules. Products should only be purchased in trusted and well-known stores that value their reputation. If they are sold in an untrustworthy place or even from a private person, then you need to look for the presence of markings.
Medical steel is a fairly strong material that does not have much flexibility. Because of this, the design of jewelry is simple and concise. They are characterized by strict lines with the absence of ornateness and complex shapes. Any product made at a factory must have a tag with information about the place of manufacture. There is also a stamp, article number and name. If it is declared as gold, then the tag should contain the purity and other useful data. Customer-respecting costume jewelry manufacturers also provide quality certificates with their products.
The buyer needs to look at the availability of the sample. Sometimes, instead of it, you can find a stamp that says 316 L - this is customary in the USA, Britain and several other countries. In Russia, another marking is 03X17H14M3 or 12X18H10. The numbers following the letter X indicate additional components in the alloy.
Stainless steel cookware with double and triple bottom.
Due to their low thermal conductivity, stainless steel cookware was not particularly successful. Finally figured out how to solve this problem. It is necessary to mount a disk of aluminum or copper with good thermal conductivity into the bottom of the steel cookware. In recent decades, the development of technology has made it possible to solve this problem.
First, dishes appeared with an aluminum disk welded (soldered) on the bottom. But since aluminum quickly loses its appearance and, in addition, gets dirty on the stove, a more advanced design has appeared with a lower covering capsule made of stainless steel.
Nowadays, the so-called puff bottom, “sandwich” or encapsulated bottom is widely used in stainless steel cookware. This bottom is called thermal distribution. Food does not burn, and dishes retain heat for a long time. A traditional “sandwich” is two sheets of stainless steel with a layer of copper or aluminum sandwiched between them. Sometimes the walls of the dishes are also multi-layered. This technology is called Tri-ply. In any case, food only comes into contact with hygienic stainless steel.
The arrangement of layers in the “sandwich” can be seen on the edge on the side of the bottom. But more often the heat-conducting layer is located, as it were, in a stainless steel capsule, and you can only trust the manufacturer - what’s inside. Conscientious manufacturers and sellers demonstrate their products in cut form, and you can verify the presence of a thermal distribution layer and evaluate the thickness of the aluminum or copper layer.
Thanks to the layered bottom, all the advantages of stainless steel are added to the high thermal conductivity of other materials. In this collaboration of different metals, it was possible to combine their best properties (strength, good thermal conductivity, resistance to alkalis, acids and corrosion, hygiene, beautiful appearance) and hide the shortcomings. Aluminum is used many times more often than copper to improve the thermal conductivity of the bottom of stainless steel cookware. It's still cheaper.
