Protective properties of tantalum and tantalum pentoxide coatings deposited by magnetron sputtering method for biomedical applications

Abstract Using magnetron sputtering, films of Ta and Ta 2 O 5 were grown on substrates of AISI 316 stainless steel. A potentiodynamic technique was applied to assess the samples’ corrosion resistance characteristics. The measurements’ results demonstrated a significant improvement in the anti-corrosion properties of the Ta2O5 films compared with those of the AISI 316 samples, thus proving that growing tantalum and tantalum oxide films on AISI 316 stainless steel is a promising way of producing implants for biomedical applications.