The influence of grain size on the fatigue behavior of annealed 316 LVM stainless steel.

Experimental tests demonstrate that there is a sharp drop in resistance to fatigue fracture when the grain size is increased from 75 to 150 micrometers. This is at least a partial explanation for fatigue fractures of the stems of total hip-joint prostheses reported in the literature. It is also shown that plastic strains associated with fatigue stressing increase with increasing grain size so that loosening of the bone cement embedment may also be part of the premature failure process.