Fatigue and Corrosion Fatigue of High-Nitrogen Austenitic Stainless Steel

High nitrogen contents in solid solution as well as appropriate strengthening mechanisms in austenitic stainless steels can result in very high corrosion resistance. This is true in both air environment and in simulated human body fluids (corrosion fatigue). High cycle corrosion fatigue data are listed and compared with similar data for titanium base and cobalt base implant materials. Thus high nitrogen austenitic stainless steels are candidates to replace other stainless steels as implant materials.