Comparison of etchants for corrosion-resistant stainless steels in medical engineering

Abstract Corrosion-resistant stainless steels are widely used in medical engineering. Today, additive manufacturing techniques are also used for this purpose, in particular for implant steels. Additively processed materials sometimes react differently to etching than conventionally processed ones. The use of etchants for contrasting the microstructure must therefore be adapted. Chemical etching using V2A etchant, Murakami, and anhydrous Kalling solutions, as well as electrochemical etching using nitric acid, sodium hydroxide, and oxalic acid were performed. Etched samples made of conventionally processed X2CrNi-Mo17-12-2 were compared to samples manufactured using selective laser melting and sintering, and the optimal contrast was developed in each case. It can be shown that the different etchants reveal different microstructural constituents and that etchants must therefore be selected as a function of the application.