Effect of Surface Treatments on Anodic Oxide Film Growth and Electrochemical Properties of Tantalum used for Biomedical Applications

Abstract

Self-expandable nitinol (nickel-titanium) alloys and 316L stainless steel are the most commonly used materials in the production of coronary stents. However, tantalum (Ta) has already been used to make stents for endovascular surgery and may constitute an alternative to other materials because of its better electrochemical performance, namely its higher corrosion resistance, as well as its radio-opacity. The characterization of wet polished, chemically polished, wet polished anodized, and chemically polished anodized Ta electrodes has been performed in a 0.15 M NaCl solution (simulated body fluid) using Ucorr=f(t) measurements, anodic polarizations, capacity measurements, anodic oxidations, and atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging. Anodic polarization curves have shown that the abnormal current density peak with a maximum value around 1.65 V (critical applied potential, Uc) disappeared for the anodized electrodes indicating a probable relationship between the surface states and the film growth. These results are confirmed by capacity measurements. The behavior of wet polished and chemically polished electrodes during anodic oxidations seemingly indicated that for these particular treatments the film growth is different. The AFM images and roughness measurements have shown that chemical polishing produced smoother electrodes, a fact probably related to the differences in film growth.