MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF AISI 316L FOR ARTIFICIAL HIP JOINT MATERIALS MADE BY INVESTMENT CASTING

The development of hip joint materials has improved rapidly in the fields of biomedical sciences. This is also accompanied by the advancement of the investment casting process for making artificial hip joint materials. Recently, the use of steel alloys as biomaterials has grown. 316L stainless steel hip joint made using investment casting with duraluminum (Al-Cu alloy) molding was examined in the study. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the mechanical properties of AISI 316L material after the investment casting process. The mechanical characterization included tensile test, hardness test, and impact test. The results of mechanical property testing were compared to those of 316L stainless steel Ultra-Vision products and ISO 5832/1. Yield strength, ultimate tensile strength, elongation (%), hardness (HV) and impact strength for the investment casting product are 375 MPa, 579 MPa, 28 %, 126 HV and 95.06 J, respectively. In this study, the percent elongation for the investment casting product did not meet the minimum the percent elongation requirement specified by ISO 5832/1, but the hardness and strength of the investment casting product are greater than those of ISO 5832/1 standard. This investment casting approach may be adopted for making AISI 316L hip joint with the improved mechanical property.