Archaeological evidences clearly indicate that surgical procedure were performed in several ancient civilizations. Progress in surgical processes however was slow and mixed liberally with superstition until the later part of nineteenth century. Scientist Pasteur's & Liter's antiseptic surgical techniques, developed around 1883 and shortly thereafter Roentgen's discovery of X-rays in 1895 added a new dimension to orthopedic surgery. The great step forward in technique outstripped the state of material art.
In the beginning of the twentieth century, surgical techniques were developed for the fixation of the bone fracture with the plate and screw mechanism. Sherman type bone plate has fabricated from the best available alloy at that time. i.e. Vanadium Steel.
By the 1920's, use of Vanadium steel Sherman plates became questionable, because of poor tissue compatibility. At the time however, no other alloy was available with high strength, good corrosion resistance properties.
Scientist shortly after developed the introduction of the 18-8 Stainless Steel. Clinical experiments were conducted to utilize the material for manufacture of surgical implants. This material had far-superior corrosion resistance to anything that had been available till that time and hence immediately attracted the interest of the orthopedic surgeons.
Bone Plate, Screw and other fixation appliances were fabricated and were being used as surgical implants, although the material performed better than anything available but has still showed some susceptibility to attack in the saline environment of the human body. In 1926, when Scientist Strauss patented the
18-8 SMO Stainless Steel, containing 2-4% molybdenum and a reduced carbon content of 0.08%. A material was created which promised to improve resistance to acid and chloride containing environment. Result of research in 1930's were so encouraging that as a result the American Orthopedic Committee of the National Research Council assigned a research project to C.R.Marray and G.C. Fink at desirable metal or alloy for the internal fixation of the fracture. The study resulted in recommendation of type 316L stainless steel in 1943. Subsequent research at several medical centers across the nation prompted the American College of Surgery at its 1946 meeting to endorse type 316L stainless steel for use in surgical implants.
During the 1960's, the ASTM F-4 Sub-committee was formed to standardize materials used in surgical implants. Manufacturing currently available of high quality stainless steel are now recommended for this application. The desirable properties of low carbon and vacuum of electrolyte remitted material have been published. The table below summarizes the chemical requirement of these ASTM standards. Note that the alloy chemistry is identical to the AISI material Table.  

Analysis of StainLess Steel 316L :     
Chemical composition of low-Carbon Stainless Steel in manufacturing of Surgical Implants.