Characterization of implant materials in fetal bovine serum and sodium sulfate by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. II. Coarsely sandblasted samples

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy is used to investigate the corrosion resistance of coarsely sandblasted implant alloys, commercially pure titanium, Ti6Al4V, Ti6Al7Nb, and CoCrMo in 0.1M sodium sulfate and fetal bovine serum. Coarsely sandblasted samples have a heterogeneous surface constituted by a large number of protrusions and recessions. Impedance spectra collected in sodium sulfate present two time constants (maxima in the phase-angle of the bode plot) associated with the total surface and with the tips, respectively. In bovine serum, the two maxima in the impedance spectra cannot be distinguished because of the formation of an adsorption layer of organic molecules, which causes a decrease in the values of both the total and tips' capacitances as well as an increase in the polarization resistance. Ti6Al4V and Ti6Al7Nb show the highest corrosion rate both in serum and in sodium sulfate. Based on the capacitance values obtained in sodium sulfate, the real surface area of the coarsely sandblasted electrodes has been estimated relative to mechanically polished surfaces. The values of the effective electrode area correlate with the mechanical properties of the samples: in fact, the softest electrode (commercially pure titanium) shows the largest effective electrode area, whereas the hardest material (CoCrMo alloy) shows the smallest surface area.