Plasma-Immersion Modification of Nitinol Surface with Silicon to Improve the Corrosion Resistance of the Alloy in Biological Media

Cyclic voltammetry and potentiostatic polarization have been applied to study the electrochemical behavior and to determine the corrosion resistance of nitinol, which surface was modified with silicon using plasma-immersion ion implantation, in 0.9% NaCl solution and in artificial blood plasma. It was found out that continuous, and also homogeneous in composition, thin Si-containing layers are resistant to corrosion damage at high positive potentials in artificial physiological solutions due to the formation of stable passive films. Breakdown potential Eb of Si-modified NiTi depends on the character of silicon and Ni distribution at the alloy surface, Eb values amounted to 0.9–1.5 V (Ag/AgCl/KCl sat.) for the alloy samples with continuous Si-containing surface layers and with decreased Ni surface concentration.