A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Tribological behavior and biocompatibility of novel Nickel-Free stainless steel manufactured via laser powder bed fusion for biomedical applications




AuthorsNayak Chinmayee, Anand Abhinav, Kamboj Nikhil, Kantonen Tuomas, Kajander Karoliina, Tupala Vilma, Heino Terhi J., Cherukuri Rahul, Mohanty Gaurav, Čapek Jan, Polatidis Efthymios, Goel Sneha, Salminen Antti, Ganvir Ashish

PublisherElsevier

Publication year2024

JournalMaterials and Design

Journal name in sourceMaterials & Design

Article number113013

Volume242

ISSN0264-1275

eISSN1873-4197

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2024.113013

Web address https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2024.113013

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/393516036

Additional informationCorrection to this article: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matdes.2025.113984 ; DOI:10.1016/j.matdes.2025.113984


Abstract
Due to the risk of releasing carcinogenic nickel ions from conventional 316L stainless steel under a corrosive human body environment, a new variant of steel termed nickel-free stainless steel (NiFSS) has been investigated. The present study investigates the tribological properties and biocompatibility of NiFSS manufactured via laser powder bed fusion (PBF-LB/M). The ferritic NiFSS exhibited significantly lower coefficient of friction (0.08 to 0.28) and wear rate (1.60 × 10-6 mm3/Nm to 6.60 × 10-6 mm3/Nm) compared to reported values for austenitic 316L SS, under both dry and simulated body fluid (SBF) conditions and various sliding geometries. This improvement is attributed to the superior hardness (3.394 ± 0.1340 GPa) and elastic modulus (238 ± 9.0797 GPa) of NiFSS. To assess the biocompatibility, the viability of mouse pre-osteoblastic MC3T3-E1 cells was evaluated with an Alamar Blue assay when the cells were cultured on top of PBF-LB/M built NiFSS and 316L SS samples. The results indicated that even though cell growth was most optimal on regular cell culture plastic, cell viability was better maintained on PBF-LB/M built NiFSS compared to 316L SS. Therefore, the results of the present study propose that PBF-LB/M fabricated NiFSS holds promise for application in biomedical devices for joint arthroplasty.

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Last updated on 2025-09-06 at 13:00