Electrochemical, Polarization, and Crevice Corrosion Testing of Nitinol 60, A Supplement to the ECLSS Sustaining Materials Compatibility Study

In earlier trials, electrochemical test results were presented for six noble metals evaluated in test solutions representative of waste liquids processed in the Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Subsequently, a seventh metal, Nitinol 60, was added for evaluation and subjected to the same test routines, data analysis, and theoretical methodologies. The previous six test metals included three titanium grades, (commercially pure, 6Al-4V alloy and 6Al-4V low interstitial alloy), two nickel-chromium alloys (Inconel(RegisteredTrademark) 625 and Hastelloy(RegisteredTrademark) C276), and one high-tier stainless steel (Cronidur(RegisteredTrademark) 30). The three titanium alloys gave the best results of all the metals, indicating superior corrosive nobility and galvanic protection properties. For this current effort, the results have clearly shown that Nitinol 60 is almost as noble as titanium, being very corrosion-resistant and galvanically compatible with the other six metals electrochemically and during long-term exposure. is also quite noble as it is very corrosion resistant and galvanically compatible with the other six metals from both an electrochemical perspective and long-term crevice corrosion scenario. This was clearly demonstrated utilizing the same techniques for linear, Tafel and cyclic polarization, and galvanic coupling of the metal candidate as was done for the previous study. The high nobility and low corrosion susceptibility for Nitinol 60 appear to be intermediate to the nickel/chromium alloys and the titanium metals with indications that are more reflective of the titanium metals in terms of general corrosion and pitting behavior.