Preparation and Characterization of Laterite Steel for Biomaterial Application: A Preliminary Study

摘要

Having abundant resource of laterite ore, Indonesia has the advantage of developing lateritic steel in many applications. Despite the interesting properties of lateritic steel such as high mechanical properties, low corrosion rate, and good machinability, application of lateritic steel for biomaterial application was lack of proper research. This study aims to observe the possibility of using lateritic steel which has low nickel content to be used as orthopedic implant. Chemical composition was analyzed by optical emission spectroscopy method (OES). Micro structure analysis was analyzed by means of metallography using optical microscope and phase identification via X-Ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. Mechanical properties of laterite steel were examined by tensile testing and micro hardness Vickers testing. Biomechanical simulation and stress distribution were evaluated using finite element analysis. Corrosion behavior of lateritic steel was observed by electrochemical testing in simulated body fluid of Hank's solution in 37 °C. This research showed the laterite steel has comparable mechanical properties with SS 316L with less of nickel content. Increasing the corrosion properties of the laterite steel would increase the possibility of applying laterite steel into biomaterial. Therefore, laterite steel, the local steel produced by Indonesia's resources could be examined more comprehensively to be used as biomaterial mainly for orthopedic application.