SEM and EDS analysis of nitinol surfaces treated by Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation

In the paper, the surface layers formed on nickel-titanium alloy during Plasma Electrolytic Oxidation (PEO), known also as Micro Arc Oxidation (MAO), are described. The mixture of phosphoric acid and copper nitrate as the electrolyte for all plasma electrochemical processes was used. Nitinol biomaterial was used for the studies. All the experiments were performed under the voltage of 450 V and current density of 0.3 A/dm2. The main purpose of the studies was to achieve the highest amount of copper in the surface layer versus amount of the copper nitrate in phosphoric acid. The highest copper concentration was found in the surface layer after the PEO treatment in the electrolyte consisting of 150g Cu(NO3)2 in 0.5 dm3 H3PO4. The worst results, in case of the amount of copper in the NiTi surface layer, were recorded after oxidizing in the solution with 5 g Cu(NO3)2.