ABSTRACT
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Dental magnetic materials have been applied to removable prosthetic appliances, maxillofacial prostheses, obturator and dental implant but they still have some problems such as low corrosion resistance in oral environments. PURPOSE: To increase the corrosion resistance of dental magnetic materials, surfaces of Sm-Co and Nd-Fe-B based magnetic materials were plated with TiN and sealed with stainless steels. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Surfaces of Sm-Co and Nd-Fe-B based magnetic materials were plated with TiN and sealed with stainless steels, and then three kinds of electrochemical corrosion test were performed in 0.9% NaCl solution; potentiodynamic, potentiostatic, and electrochemical impedance test. From this study, corrosion behavior, amount of elements released, mean average surface roughness values, the changing of retention force, and magnetic force values were measured comparing with control group of non-coated magnetic materials. RESULTS: The values of surface roughness of TiN coated Sm-Co and TiN coated Nd-Fe-B based magnetic materials were lower than those of non coated Sm-Co and Nd-Fe-B alloy. From results of potentiodynamic test, the passive current density of TiN coated Sm-Co alloy were smaller than those of TiN coated Nd-Fe-B alloy and non coated alloys in 0.9% NaCl solution. From results of potentiostatic and electrochemical impedance test, the surface stability of the TiN coated Sm-Co alloy was more drastically increased than that of the TiN coated Nd-Fe-B alloy and non-coated alloy. The retention and magnetic force after and before corrosion test did not change in the case of TiN coated magnetic alloy sealed with stainless steel. CONCLUSION: It is considered that the corrosion problem and improvement for surface stability of dental magnetic materials could be solved by ion plating with TiN on the surface of dental magnetic materials and by sealing with stainless steels.