Improvement of pitting corrosion resistance of a biomedical grade 316LVM stainless steel by electrochemical modification of the passive film semiconducting properties

In the present paper we show that a significant improvement in pitting corrosion resistance of a biomedical grade stainless steel, 316LVM, can be achieved by the formation of a surface passive oxide film under cyclic potentiodyanamic polarization (passivation) conditions. A complete absence of pitting in physiological simulating solutions was demonstrated, while the electrochemically formed passive film maintained its very high pitting resistance even at higher chloride concentrations in the bulk solution. The improvement in the film’s pitting corrosion resistance was correlated with its semiconducting properties.