from the conferences organized by TANGER Ltd.
1.4301 steel as a basic stainless material used for undemanding applications is studied in this paper. Some of surgical instruments as well as other medical devices are manufactured from this material so its biocompatibility and corrosion resistance must be guaranteed. Electrochemical properties of this steel are closely connected to oxidic layers created on surface of material, so these properties can be improved by modification of the layer. This paper is basically focused on anodization process of substrate to gain enhanced corrosion properties. The structure of substrate was studied before and after anodization by light and electron microscopy, for basic chemical analysis of structural components of substrate before anodization and structure of created layers on surface EDX analysis was used. Relation between wettability of surface and parameters of anodization was studied. Electrochemical behaviour of anodized materials was tested in Tyrode’s solution. Open circuit potentials were found, corrosion potentials, polarization resistances or corrosion rates were determined by Tafel and Stern methods. Potentials of depassition and repassivation were measured by potentiodynamic polarization method. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was used for even closer description of physical characteristics of layer deposited during the anodization. For this equivalent electric circuit was found and parameters like resistance and capacitance of the layer were specified. Process of anodization is partially similar to electrochemical etching, so the relation between parameters of anodization and surface profile are also studied in this paper.
Keywords: Stainless Steel, Electrochemical Corrosion, Polarization methods, Biocompatibility, EIS method© This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.