Corrosion behaviour of thermal sprayed nitinol coatings

NiTi alloy is here investigated as an alternative coating to stainless steel since it is considered to possess good corrosion properties. Three different thermal spray techniques (high velocity oxy-fuel –HVOF–, vacuum plasma spray –VPS– and atmospheric plasma spray quenching –APS+Q–) have been used for building the coatings, and electrochemical tests have been carried out for corrosion evaluation. Open-circuit tests have revealed that the VPS-coating shows fairly good corrosion resistance, both in the as-sprayed and polished forms. The HVOF coatings however, showed a strong dependence on the surface conditions and APS+Q is dominated by electrolyte penetration through coating cracks, thus exhibiting a higher icorr.