Stainless steel is a common metal used for biomedical devices, such as coronary stents. Standard processing protocols involve electropolishing and passivation, methods that treat the metal surface for smoothness and corrosion resistance. The goals of this work were to (i) determine the effect of varying electropolishing time (30-600 s) on surface roughness of a stainless steel sample and (ii) determine the effect of various ionic liquids on electropolishing effectiveness. White light profilometry was used to analyze surface roughness of the samples after electropolishing and passivation. Results indicate that the smoothness of the stainless steel sample will increase as electropolishing increases as well. The applied potential to obtain a corrosion-resistant surface finish depends on the choice of ionic liquid.

Dependence of surface roughness on electropolish time on 316L stainless steel

249th National Meeting (2015)

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