Hybrid carbon layers for medical application

Carbon layers thanks to their advantages (high biocompatibility, good wear resistance, high corrosion resistance) found the application in medicine. The authors of presented work have obtained improvement of above-mentioned properties (high hardness) with use of hybrid RF PACVD method. Carburizing of the AISI 316L stainless steel is connected with risk of decrease of corrosion resistance which is caused by Cr23C6 formation on the grain boundaries. In the presented work corrosion parameters of the modified elements was investigated. The substrate material used in this work was AISI 316L stainless steel. The hybrid process was performed by RF PACVD method and consisted in carburizing of the sample at the beginning and afterwards carbon film synthesis. The corrosion resistance investigation was conducted using saline solution at similar to human body temperature (37oC), the duration of the investigation was two weeks. Corrosion investigation of modified elements proved that suitable choice of carburizing parameters during the hybrid process doesn’t cause lowering of corrosion resistance of AISI 316L steel. Moreover microscope observations of the modified materials’ structures didn’t show any track of carbide disengagements on the grain boundaries.