Characterization of Nitrogen Implanted Pure Ti in Normal Saline (0.9% NaCl) Solution

Metallic biomaterial like stainless steel, Co-based alloy, Ti and its alloy are widely used as artificial hip joints, bone plates and dental implants. However; this alloy releases ions from the surface liable to do serious harm to human bodies. For overcoming surface originated problems, various surface modification technique have been used on the metallic implants. In this study, the nitrogen was implanted by a process of ion implantation at 60 keV with different fluences of 1 x 1016, 5 x 1016, 1x1017 and 5 x 1017 ions/cm2. Corrosion resistance of Ti and ion implanted Ti were investigated by an electrochemical test, at 37°C in normal saline solution. Tafel extrapolation method was used for calculating corrosion rate. ICP-AES studies were carried out to determine amount of ions leached out from samples when kept immersed in normal saline solution. Corrosion stability and elemental out-diffusion resistance was found to be increased by nitrogen ion implantation. The implanted samples showed variation in the corrosion resistance with varying doses and the sample implanted at 1 X 1017 ions/cm2 showed an optimum corrosion resistance.