Effects of Surface Treatment on Corrosion Resistance of 304L and 316L Stainless Steel Implants in Hank's Solution

The enormous demands for metal implant have given rise to a search for cheap material with good bio-tolerability and resistance to corrosion. Although stainless steel has these properties and is widely used for this purpose, its long term application is still a concern. The corrosion resistance of stainless steel depends on the passive layer. Herein, chemical surface treatment, including passivation, electropolishing, and acid cleaning is used for improving the corrosion-resistance property of AISI 316L and 304L. Cyclic polarization, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and EDX analysis were used to investigate the properties obtained thereby. Finally, the corrosion resistance of the untreated and modified specimens was compared. The results show that the corrosion behavior of the passivated and electropolished specimens is improved.