Electropolishing and passivation of NiTi shape memory alloy

Electropolishing of NiTi alloy has been investigated. The influence of polishing bath composition and the operating conditions instead of the conditions of the process on the quality of the surface, evaluated by AFM and SEM methods, was established. Morphologically uniform surfaces were obtained only in the case of solutions containing hydrofluoric and sulfuric acids. Electropolished samples were sterilized and thermally passivated, then their corrosion resistance was measured in Tyrode's physiological solution. it was established that already after the electropolishing the corrosion resistance of NiTi alloy increases due to the spontaneously formed TiO(2) layer. The increase of the thickness of the layer during sterilization and thermal passivation causes further increase in the corrosion resistance. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.