Crevice corrosion behaviors of CoCrMo alloy and stainless steel 316L artificial joint materials in physiological saline.

Crevices of artificial joints can become occluded and are prone to severe corrosion. Different crevice width was controlled to reveal its effect to corrosion for two commonly used alloys (316L stainless steel and CoCrMo alloy). The results show that 316L stainless steel with the narrowest (0.05 mm) width corrodes more easily and more severely. There is no typical crevice corrosion for CoCrMo alloy, and the exterior of the crevice has different degrees of corrosion due to the mass transfer effect caused by the crevice with different widths. The corrosion rate reaches the lowest value when the width is 0.1 mm. [Display omitted] • 316L suffers serious corrosion under crevice width between 0.05 mm and 0.1 mm. • Corrosion occurs outside crevice region for CoCrMo due to mass transfer. • Outside crevice for CoCrMo, corrosion shows a gradient behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]