Production of Annealed Cold-Sprayed 316L Stainless Steel Coatings for Biomedical Applications and Their in-vitro Corrosion Response

Abstract

316L powders were successfully deposited onto Al5052 aluminium substrates by cold spray method. Annealing was treated on the coated samples at 250–1000°C temperatures under Ar atmosphere. The in vitro performances of the coatings have been compared with using electrochemical corrosion test technique in the simulated body fluid (SBF) at body temperature (37°C). A scanning electron microscope (SEM-EDS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) have been used for microstructural characterization and phases identifications of the coatings, respectively. The results were shown that there are high adhesions at particle and substrate interfaces and between the particles deposited as well. Also, the increasing annealing temperature increases corrosion resistance of the cold sprayed 316L stainless steel coatings. The corrosion susceptibility of the coating annealed at 1000°C was similar that of standard 316L stainless steel implant material in Ringer’s solution. The microstructural observations revealed that corrosion starts between the inter-splat powders and continues throughout the surface not in-depth.