Surface treatment of NiTi shape memory alloy and its influence on corrosion behavior

Influence of various surface treatments of a NiTi alloy on its surface chemistry and corrosion resistance was studied. NiTi (50.9 at.% Ni) alloy was subjected to mechanical polishing (MP), chemical etching (CHE) in an acidic bath, combination of mechanical polishing and oxidation at 530 °C/10 min in air (MPO) and combination of chemical etching and oxidation at 530 °C/10 min in air (CHEO). Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectrometry were used for the surface examination. Corrosion behavior was determined by measuring potentiodynamic curves and nickel release into a model physiological solution with pH = 2. It was shown that oxidation at 530 °C has a slightly retarding effect on the nickel release in the case of MP material. However, in the case of CHE material, oxidation negatively influences corrosion, i.e. it strongly accelerates the nickel release, despite that it produces a relatively thick Ni-depleted oxide layer. Chemical etching was evidenced to produce the best corrosion performance in terms of nickel release. By comparing the MP and MPO sample, it was evidenced that oxidation significantly enhances susceptibility to the pitting corrosion. The findings obtained in our work were discussed in relation to variations in the surface chemistry and structure after different treatments.