Stress-enhanced ion release--the effect of static loading.

Static stresses affect the corrosion behaviour of 316L stainless steel, Ti-6AI-4V, and a Co-Cr-Mo alloy. Several corrosion parameters are modified by stress, although the changes most relevant to the clinical situation are lowering of breakdown potentials and increases in corrosion currents. AC impedance techniques to measure capacitance allowed the latter effect to be partitioned into components of true current density and true area changes. Although loading past the yield point can definitely cause stress-enhanced ion release (SEIR), it is not required. SEIR can also be caused by elastic loading. The basic mechanism for this phenomenon appears to be passive film disruption followed by slow repassivation kinetics. Polished, grit-blasted, and porous-coated surfaces were examined. The porous-coated materials seemed to be most susceptible to SEIR. If effects similar to those observed here apply to in vivo conditions, then tests on unstressed alloys in vitro could grossly underestimate ion release rates of stressed implant devices in vivo.