Antibacterial and corrosive properties of copper implanted austenitic stainless steel

Copper ions were implanted into austenitic stainless steel (SS) by metal vapor vacuum arc with a energy of 100 keV and an ions dose range of (0.5-8.0)x 1017 cm-2. The Cu-implanted SS was annealed in an Ar atmosphere furnace. Glancing X-ray diffraction (GXRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) were used to reveal the phase com-positions, microstructures, and concentration profiles of copper ions in the implanted layer. The results show that the antibacterialproperty of Cu-implanted SS is attributed to Cu9.9Fe0.1 which precipitated as needles. The depth of copper in Cu-implanted SS with annealing treatment is greater than that in Cu-implanted SS without annealing treatment, which improves the antibacterial property against S. Aureus. The salt wetting-drying combined cyclic test was used to evaluate the corrosion-resistance of antibacterial SS, and the results reveal that the antibacterial SS has a level of corrosion-resistance equivalent to that of un-implanted SS.