Surgical steel contains less nickel than stainless steel, making it safer for people with sensitive skin and hypoallergenic for those suffering from allergies.
Titanium stands out as having an exceptional strength-to-weight ratio and is commonly used in parts that demand higher tensile strengths. Furthermore, its safe properties make it suitable for most individuals.
Durability
Surgical steel is a hard and strong metal that’s known for being reliable and long-lasting, commonly found in medical devices and body jewelry because of its resistance to corrosion and tarnishing. Furthermore, surgical steel can also be made hypoallergenic – making it suitable for people with sensitive skin as it’s more cost effective compared to titanium.
Stainless surgical steel (commonly referred to as implant grade stainless steel) is a low-carbon alloy modified to contain less nickel, which may trigger allergic reactions in certain individuals. As such, this material has been approved for use in medical implants and body jewelry due to being less likely to trigger an adverse allergic response than generic stainless steel products.
Titanium is an attractive metal, lightweight yet strong. It is non-magnetic and non-corrosive, offering easy working conditions with long-term wear resistance that doesn’t corrode away its beautiful finish over time.
Titanium’s greatest advantage is that it does not contain nickel, making it ideal for people with metal allergies. Titanium also makes for a good option for healing new piercings since it doesn’t cause allergic reactions; however, titanium tends to be more costly than surgical steel.
Mechanical Properties
Titanium has become increasingly popular as an aerospace material due to its superior strength-to-weight ratio and corrosion resistance, not to mention its biocompatibility with human tissue, making it suitable for long-lasting medical implants such as surgical instruments or prostheses.
One of the key mechanical properties to evaluate is machinability. This score indicates how easy or difficult a metal is to machine; titanium has an exceptionally low rating due to its elastic modulus; this material flexes easily and gums up mills making machining challenging for machines. On the other hand, stainless steel boasts an outstandingly high machinability score.
Weldability is another essential feature to take into account when purchasing metal materials. This refers to how easily a material can be welded. Both titanium and stainless steel can be weld easily; however, stainless steel welding tends to be easier due to requiring less skill and experience to do it successfully.
Strength
Surgical stainless steel and titanium are both strong, long-term metals. Surgical steel is comprised of an iron-based alloy containing chromium, nickel and molybdenum that makes it stronger than standard stainless steel while being more corrosion resistant than titanium and less likely to cause allergic reactions than its titanium counterpart. Furthermore, surgical steel is easier to work with than its magnetic counterpart and more suitable for surgical uses than its magnetic counterpart.
Titanium is an elemental metal with few alloys compared to surgical steel, and therefore will not irritate sensitive skin like its more metal-laden counterpart can. Therefore, titanium may be better for people suffering from hypersensitivity issues; however, most people can tolerate medical-grade steel even for initial piercings.
Titanium jewellery is light-weight and easily anodised to create various coloured options. Titanium has long been chosen for body piercings that put strain on the body, such as ear lobe or clavicle piercings. Furthermore, titanium’s track record in fracture fixation implants is exceptional: matching modulus of elasticity of bone more closely than stainless steel does while withstanding fatigue caused by stress-reaction and cyclic loading – more expensive than its 316L+ surgical steel counterpart but with superior clinical success rates!
Corrosion Resistance
Corrosion resistance is an attractive quality in metals, especially those exposed to harsh environments like salt water or liquid contact. Selecting corrosion-resistant metal will protect your project from being damaged, thus prolonging its lifespan and saving money in repairs costs.
Surgical Steel is a specific grade of stainless steel that has been carefully refined to reduce nickel content, making it hypoallergenic and suitable for most with hypersensitivity issues. If you are extremely sensitive, titanium might be a better option as it contains no alloys and lacks nickel, thus eliminating potential reactions and being lighter weight; plus it can even be anodized into various colors to give this material greater versatility than others.
Surgical steel and titanium both come in an extensive selection of gauge sizes to suit various piercing sizes, making it easier for you to find something suitable. Both materials are highly durable and long-term options; therefore making either choice perfect for those seeking comfortable body jewelry with lasting style. Titanium may be superior due to its longer lifespan.
Metal Allergies
Titanium is considered hypoallergenic, meaning that it will likely not irritate sensitive individuals’ skin. If you are allergic to nickel, however, avoid all forms of Titanium altogether.
Surgical grade stainless steel contains less impurities than other grades of steel, making it both hypoallergenic and corrosion resistant. Furthermore, this grade contains 2-3% molybdenum for added protection from harsh industrial corrosives as well as those found within human bodies.
Titanium’s best grades offer exceptional ductility, toughness, and corrosion resistance; making them popular choices among aerospace, automotive, chemical, architectural, medical, processing, and processing industries. Titanium is an affordable silver-white metal with low density and an outstanding strength-to-weight ratio; physiologically inert with low modulus of elasticity and thermal conductivity properties making it suitable for aerospace use as well.
Titanium dioxide occurs naturally in minerals such as anatase, brookite, ilmenite, leucoxene, perovskite and rutile and ranks ninth on Earth’s crust. Titanium dioxide is often used as a nickel alternative in jewellery designs and dental implants due to its biocompatibility and corrosion resistance properties. Furthermore, titanium dioxide pigment is found in paints, paper, plastics and sunscreen products; for instance it’s been pressed into fibres of high-quality papers to improve brightness opacity and texture – also making sunscreen products!
Hardness
Surgical steel and titanium are two hard metals with similar mechanical properties, providing aerospace, structural, biomedical and other uses. However, their hardness and other mechanical properties vary depending on their alloy and heat treatment process used during production. This article compares some of these properties in order to help identify where each material may best serve a given application.
Stainless steel implants have long been favoured as implant materials due to its durability and ductility; its corrosion-resistance makes it especially desirable in certain applications. Titanium alloy implants tend to offer better handling characteristics; for instance, titanium-based implants tend to be less vulnerable to cold-welding, screw breakage, or stripping than stainless steel-based ones.
Titanium and 316L/316LVM Surgical Steel body jewelry works well for most people due to being top-quality medical-grade steels; however, those with metal hypersensitivity should opt for titanium as it offers greater comfort.
Stainless steel, especially its higher quality grades such as 316L and 316LVM, does not contain nickel and is resistant to most forms of rusting. However, some alloys present may cause allergic reactions for some individuals; thus it is recommended that sensitive skin be covered in titanium while stainless steel should only be used elsewhere.
Weight
Surgical steel is a durable yet lightweight metal that’s an excellent choice for body jewelry; this makes it a comfortable fit against your ears or neck without becoming heavy over time.
Hypoallergenic, meaning it won’t trigger allergic reactions or skin irritation, it is also easy to clean and requires little maintenance with just one quick wipe with damp cloth needed to keep its appearance at its best.
Only those with nickel allergies may avoid selecting surgical steel jewelry; this should not be a significant obstacle, however, as high-grade surgical stainless steel alloys such as 316L and 316LVM contain very low percentages of nickel that won’t come into direct contact with skin surfaces.
Titanium on the other hand does not contain any alloys and therefore doesn’t cause allergic reactions in most people. Furthermore, its lightweight nature makes it perfect for large gauge piercings while its non-magnetic surface provides excellent corrosion and tarnishing resistance as well as being user friendly when selecting jewellery pieces to pierce with. Working with titanium means more options when it comes to finding jewellery suitable to you!
