Effect of Silver Ion Implantation on Conductivity and Corrosion Resistance of 316L Stainless Steel

Silver ions were implanted into the surface of the 316L austenitic stainless steel by a silver ion source machine. The conductivity and corrosion resistance of the steel surface were investigated. The results show that the surface contact resistance of stainles steel reduced by 81.25% compared with that of the steel before implantation with the dose of 0.5×107 cm-2. A new passive film was formed on surface of the ion implanted steel in the bipolar plate simulated solutions, which retarded corrosion effectively. With the silver ion implantation dose of 2×107 cm-2, the stable corrosion current density reduced by 98.56% and 98.32% in the bipolar plate simulated cathode and anode environment, respectively.