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. 2024 Aug 29;10(17):e37125.
doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e37125. eCollection 2024 Sep 15.

Nickel release from 316L stainless steel following a Ni-free electroplating cycle

Roberta Emanuele  1 , Andrea Comparini  1   2 , Margherita Verrucchi  2 , Ivan Del Pace  1 , Arianna Meoli  2 , Mariya Vorobyova  2 , Walter Giurlani  2   3 , Massimo Innocenti  2   3   4   5
Affiliations

Nickel release from 316L stainless steel following a Ni-free electroplating cycle

Roberta Emanuele et al. Heliyon. .

Abstract

Electroplating can induce nickel release even from 316L stainless steel, typically considered safe. In this work, the influence of different electroplating processes and surface treatments on nickel release was evaluated. The nickel release was tested according to the EN 1811 standard. The impact of surface roughness on nickel release was assessed by comparing polished and unpolished samples. Results indicate that internal stresses can worsen nickel release, while increasing the thickness of the precious metal layer is beneficial. To corroborate our hypothesis, it was verified that coatings obtained through physical vapor deposition (PVD), without removing the passivation layer of the steel, did not release nickel. For these reasons, we identified the main cause of nickel release as the combined effect of the removal of the passivation layer of stainless steel and the microporosity of the electroplating process.

Keywords: 316L; Dermatitis; EN 1811; Electroplating; Nickel allergy; Nickel release.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Image 1
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Unpolished 316L stainless steel surface, acquired by AFM.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
SEM analysis of sample A) Ni Wood/Au and B) AURINOX/Au after the nickel release test.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Polished 316L stainless steel surface, acquired by AFM.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
SEM analysis of sample A) P-Ni Wood/Au and B) P-AURINOX/Au after the nickel release test.
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
SEM analysis of sample A) P-Ni Wood/Cu/Bronze/Pd/Au and B) P-AURINOX/Cu/Bronze/Pd/Au after the nickel release test.
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
SEM analysis of sample A) P-Ni Wood/Cu/Bronze/Pd/Au(1) and B) P-AURINOX/Cu/Bronze/Pd/Au(1) after the nickel release test.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Nickel release from each sample discussed in this study, expressed as average and standard deviation of three repetitions. The thickness of the final gold layer is reported in the brackets).
Fig. 8
Fig. 8
Schematic cross-sectional illustration of A) a thin electrodeposited gold layer on SS in which the presence of open porosity leads to localized corrosion and nickel release; B) a thick electrodeposited gold layer that prevents nickel release; C) a thin and partial covering PVD gold layer on passivated SS that prevents the nickel release.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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