Affiliations: Department of Bionanosystem Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Korea | Division of Mechanical Design Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Korea | School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), Sydney, Australia | Department of Engineering Science and Humanities, Institute of Engineering, Pulchowk Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal
Note: [] Address for correspondence: Cheol Sang Kim, Department of Bionanosystem Engineering, Chonbuk National University, Jeonju, Jeonbuk 561-756, Korea. Fax: +82 63 270 2460; E-mail: chskim@jbnu.ac.kr
Abstract: In this paper, we investigated the effect of laser polishing at different treatment times on the surface roughness and corrosion resistance of a biliary nickel–titanium (NiTi or Nitinol) stent. A specific area of the stent wire surface was checked for changes in roughness by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and a noncontact profilometer. The corrosion resistance was assessed by potentiodynamic polarization test and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The surface characterization revealed that laser polishing reduced the surface roughness of stent by 34–64% compared to that of the as-received stent surface condition depending on the treatment time (i.e., 700–1600 μm). Measurements using potentiodynamic polarization in simulated body fluid solution showed better anti-corrosion performance of laser-polished stent compared to magnetically-polished stent and has comparable corrosion resistance with the as-received stent condition. In this paper, we have shown a preliminary study on the potential of laser polishing for the improvement of surface roughness of stent without affecting much its corrosion resistance.
