Nitrogen ion implantation and in vitro corrosion behavior of as-cast Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy

In the present investigation, surface modification of Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy with nitrogen ions is considered as a method to improve its performance with respect to corrosion. Nitrogen ion was implanted on Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy at an energy of 70 and 100 keV using a 150 keV accelerator at different doses between 1 x 10(16) and 3 x 10(17) ions/cm(2). Gracing incidence X-ray diffraction was employed on the implanted specimens to understand the phases formed with increasing doses. The implanted samples were subjected to electrochemical study in Ringer's solution in order to determine the optimum dose that can give good corrosion resistance in a simulated body fluid condition. The OCP of the implanted specimens were found to shift in the noble direction in comparison with unimplanted specimen. The passive current density and area of the repassivation loop were found to decrease as the dose values increased. The electrochemical impedance spectroscopic results indicate that the polarization resistance was higher for the dose of 2.5 x 10(17) ions/cm(2) implanted at both energy of 70 and 100 keV. Nitrogen ion implantation enhanced the passivability and reduces the corrosion kinetics of the alloy surface with increasing tendency for repassivation. Nature of the surface and reason for the variation and improvement in corrosion resistance are discussed in detail. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.