The electrochemical behavior of Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy with and without plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite coating in Hank's solution.

The electrochemical behavior of Ti-6Al-7Nb alloy with and without plasma-sprayed hydroxyapatite (HA) coating was investigated in Hank's balanced salt solution at 37 degrees C. This behavior was evaluated by analyzing both corrosion potential variation with time curves and potentiodynamic polarization curves. The polarization curves were determined both in aerated and deaerated solutions. It was found that the corrosion potential of uncoated sample is always more noble than that of coated one. In aerated solutions the polarization curve of a coating-free alloy presents a typical passive/transpassive behavior, which is absent in the HA-coated alloy and in deaerated solution for both coated and uncoated conditions. In the latter polarization curves, the current density continuously increases with the increase of the potential. The corrosion rate determined from polarization curves is higher for HA-coated alloys, but it still can be considered negligible (less than 1 microA/cm(2)). Copyright 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res (Appl Biomater) 63: 664-670, 2002