Galvanic couples of 316L steel with Ti and ion plated Ti and TiN coatings in Ringer's solutions.

Steel 316L was coated with titanium or titanium nitride by ion plating. The tightness of the coatings was examined electro-chemically. The galvanic effects for the galvanic couples steel-titanium, steel-titanium-coated steel and steel-titanium nitride-coated steel were studied. It was found that both titanium and titanium nitride coatings were non-porous in Ringer's solution; titanium served as an anode in the couple steel-titanium; it was oxidized according to the logarithmic law. For the other two couples, the coatings were the cathodes. The rate of dissolution of steel in these couples, was however, smaller than expected, owing to a strong polarization of the coatings. The potential of the couple was similar to that of steel.