Corrosion Resistance of a Plasma-Oxidized Ti6Al4V Alloy for Dental Applications

A Ti6Al4V alloy was plasma-oxidized at 600 °C during 1, 2, 3, 5 and 8 h and corroded in an artificial saliva solution. Electrochemical evaluation was performed by using potentiodynamic polarization curves, linear polarization resistance (LPR), and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements during 100 h. Corroded specimens were characterized by using Raman spectroscopy and scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). All tests indicated that the highest corrosion resistance was obtained for specimen oxidized during 3 h since the noblest free corrosion potential, lowest passive and corrosion current density values, as well as the highest polarization resistance values were obtained under these circumstances. EIS measurements indicated that the highest impedance and phase angle values obtained for this specimen exhibited a high capacitive behavior typical of a very compact passive film.