SEM and EDX Study of Stainless Steels, Suggested as Human Body Implants

Abstract

The most important requirement for any material used as an implant is to be biocompatible and not to cause undesirable effects in the human body. Corrosion of implants is included in the topic of biocompatibility because it is a determining factor in their sustainability and seamless fulfillment of their functional purpose. The work presents the results obtained in the comparative study of two austenitic stainless steels (Cr18Ni9 and Cr18Mn12N) in two models of artificial saliva, accepted as environments for testing the corrosion behavior of materials for these aims. The nature of the corrosion attack, the composition of the corrosion products at 37°C and the pH 5.5 and pH 6.75 of the model media were determined using physical methods such as SEM and EDX of investigation and analysis. It was found that Cr18Mn12N steel (0.61 % N), exhibits higher corrosion resistance.