Electrochemical corrosion behavior of magnetron sputtered TiN coated steel in simulated bodily fluid and its hemocompatibility

Titanium nitride (TiN) films were deposited on AISI 316L stainless steel substrates by reactive magnetron sputtering using a Ti target. With the aim to improve the corrosion resistance an additional interlayer of about 5 μm thick brush plated nickel was deposited onto these substrates. Coatings were characterized by X-ray diffraction, which showed the presence of face centered cubic structure. Columnar growth of the film was observed from cross section SEM analysis. Platelet adhesion experiments were done to examine the interaction between blood and the materials in vitro. The low corrosion current density (Icorr) and rather high corrosion potential (Ecorr) value implied that the TiN with Ni interlayer coated specimen in simulated bodily fluid displayed a good resistance to the tested condition.