Comparative Evaluation of Corrosion Resistance of AISI 316L and Ti6Al4V Dental Materials Under Simulated Inflammatory Conditions

Titanium and its alloys as well as stainless steel are commonly used materials for implants in the human body due to their excellent biocompatibility, corrosion resistance and mechanical properties. However, the long-term performance of these implants in the oral cavity can be affected by the complex oral environment, including the ingestion of food, beverages and oral hygiene products, leading to the presence of various ions, pH fluctuations and inflammatory processes. Investigating the performance of AISI 316L stainless steel and Ti6Al4V alloy, two commonly used dental materials, in conditions that mimic inflammation can provide valuable insights into their suitability and long-term reliability and offer the opportunity to select the material according to the patient's health condition. The samples were exposed to artificial saliva with different concentrations of H2O2 with lactic acid for 24, 48, 72 and 96 hours. The study includes the potentiodynamic method, EIS, SEM and EDS analysis. The determined corrosion rates clearly show that Ti6Al4V has better corrosion properties at lower H2O2 concentrations, which decrease with increasing immersion time due to its excellent passivity ability, while AISI 316L is more corrosion resistant with increasing H2O2 concentration. Both samples also exhibit re-passivation after being exposed to a high concentration of H2O2 for 96 hours.