The effects of NaOH anodization on surface properties of a bioresorbable WE43 alloy

In this study, the effect of anodization on the WE43 surface was investigated. The primary purpose was to achieve a corrosion-resistant surface that can be firmly bonded to polymers to design bioresorbable drug-eluting stents. WE43 samples were anodized at 4,5,6 volts and at different times after finding the best potential region for anodization. Potentiodynamic polarization showed that the sample anodized at 4 volts and 5 minutes had three times lower corrosion rate than the bare WE43 sample. Also,
$\boldsymbol{\mathrm{R}_{\mathrm{a}}}$
and Sa values indicated that anodization increases the surface bonding ability. The formation of a thin layer of stearic acid on the surface decreased the hydrophilicity of the anodized WE43 samples leading to better corrosion properties.