Corrosion testing by potentiodynamic polarization in various electrolytes.

The effect of different electrolytes on the results from potentiodynamic polarization corrosion testing was studied for nine different dental alloys. In general, the difference in the results was greater between certain alloys using the same electrolyte than between the electrolytes with the same alloy. However, there were some differences between the electrolytes, most pronounced when testing dental amalgams. The electrolyte consisting of 1% NaCl seemed to offer the most corrosive environment. Darvell's and Fusayama's solutions were much less corrosive, at least for dental amalgam specimens. With regard to the ranking by corrosion sensitivity of the amalgams, only the results obtained by using Fusayama's solution were consistent with the clinical experience of the materials.