This specification covers the requirements fro wrought zirconium-2.5niobium alloy for use in surgical implant applications. The material shall be manufactured into bars or wires by multiple vacuum melting in arc furnaces, by electron beam melting, or by other melting processes conventionally used for reactive metals. The material shall be in the annealed condition, with the surface descaled or pickled, abrasively blasted, chemically milled, ground, machined, peeled, or polished. Heat and product analyses and tests for tensile strength, yield strength, and elongation shall be performed and shall conform to the requirements specified. In addition, the material shall have a microstructure consisting of a fine dispersion of the alpha and beta phases as a result of processing in the alpha plus beta field, with no coarse, elongated alpha platelets.

1.1 This specification covers the chemical, mechanical, and metallurgical requirements for wrought zirconium-2.5niobium alloy to be used in the manufacture of surgical implants (1).2

1.2 The values stated in either SI units or inch-pound units are to be regarded separately as standard. The values stated in each system may not be exact equivalents; therefore, each system shall be used independently of the other. Combining values from the two systems may result in non-conformance with the standard.