Effects of plastic strain of diamond-like carbon coated stainless steel on the corrosion behavior in simulated body fluid environment

We have investigated the effect of plastic deformation of diamond-like carbon (DLC) coated and uncoated stainless steel on the corrosion resistance in a simulated body fluid environment to measure its protective efficiency as a biomedical coating material. We deposited the DLC film on 304 stainless steel specimens by radio frequency plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition(R.F.-PACVD) method, followed by a tensile test to apply plastic strain on the coated specimen. Corrosion behavior in the simulated body fluid environment was studied by a potentiodynamic polarization test. As the tensile deformation progressed, the cracks of the film were observed to be perpendicular to the tensile axis. Further deformation increased both cracking and the spallation. Estimated porosity and corrosion current density increased, and thus the protective efficiency decreased at a strain of 2%. In spite of the degradation, the anti-corrosion properties were significantly improved relative to the uncoated stainless steel. However, a significant increase in porosity and corrosion current density was observed at a strain of 4%. This study showed that increasing the thickness of the Si interlayer of film improved the corrosion resistance with reduction of spallations and cracks.