Electrochemical formation of highly pitting resistant passive films on a biomedical grade 316LVM stainless steel surface

Abstract

The results discussed in the paper demonstrate that a significant improvement in pitting corrosion resistance of a biomedical grade 316LVM stainless steel can be achieved by electrochemically forming highly-protective passive oxide films on the material's surface, under cyclic potentiodynamic polarization conditions. The film formed in a sodium nitrate electrolyte is completely resistant to pitting corrosion in simulating physiological solutions even at high temperatures (60 °C), and after sterilization. The high pitting resistance of the electrochemically-formed films was explained on the basis of their semiconducting properties. Namely, the enrichment of the outer part of the electrochemically formed passive film with Cr(VI)-species results in a decrease in the density of oxygen vacancies, which act as pitting initiation sites, and their ‘replacement’ by metal vacancies formed by the electrochemical oxidation of Cr(III) to Cr(VI). In this configuration, the outer Cr(VI)-rich oxide layer behaves as cation selective, which results in the increased pitting corrosion resistance of the film. The simple electrochemical passivation technique discussed in the paper can be efficiently used to form highly pitting resistant passive films on 316LVM-built medical implant devices of any geometry.