2014 Volume 63 Issue 5 Pages 301-308
Shape memory alloys have become widely applied for biomedical devices such as stents and coils. At present, NiTi is practically and widely used, and Ni-free Ti-based alloys is expected to replace NiTi from the viewpoint of further safety to human body, since the Ti-based alloys do not contain toxic elements such as Ni. This paper summarizes corrosion behavior of NiTi and Ni-free Ti-based biomedical shape memory alloys reported after 1990s. Based on the data in the literature, although the corrosion resistance of both NiTi and Ni-free Ti-base shape memory alloys is judged to be sufficient for biomedical applications, the corrosion resistance of Ni-free Ti-based shape memory alloys is better than that of NiTi. Therefore, from the viewpoint of corrosion, further development of Ni-free Ti-based shape memory alloys is desired.
