Corrosion behaviour of Ti6Al4V ELI nanotubes for biomedical applications

Abstract

Surfaces engineering on titanium biomedical alloys aiming for improving bone regeneration, healing periods and increasing lifetime needs for a fundamental understanding of the electrochemical reactions occurring at the interface biomaterial/human fluid. There, electrochemical corrosion plays an important role in implant-tissue interaction. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of different TiO2 surfaces and nanotubes on a Ti6Al4V ELI in their electrochemical corrosion resistance by different electrochemical techniques (open circuit potential, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and potentiodynamic polarization). The electrochemical behaviour of native, anodized, nanotubular and annealed nanotubular surfaces were investigated in 1M NaCl solution. The nanotubular topography was obtained by electrochemical oxidation and the annealing treatment allowed at changing the crystalline structure of the oxides. The nanotube morphology, chemical composition, and structure was studied by Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy, Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and Transmission Electron Microscopy respectively. The results show that the anodic oxidation treatment creates a nanotubular topography that increases the surface area and changes the surface chemical composition. The electrochemical corrosion resistance decreased on the as-formed TiO2 tubes compared to the native oxide layer, due to higher surface area and amorphous crystal structure of the passive film. After annealing treatment, the fluoride ions are eliminated, and nanotubular resistance is enhanced through anatase stabilization.