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The corrosion behavior of NiTi alloy and stainless steels (AISI 316L and X2CrNiMoN22-5-3) in 0.9% sodium chloride (0.154 moll-1) solution was investigated using open circuit potential measurements, potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy measurements. Microstructural analyses before and after electrochemical tests were performed with the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) equipped with energy dispersive spectrometry (EDS). The lowest corrosion current density has NiTi alloy and the extent of the passive range increased in the order AISI 316L stainless steel < NiTi alloy < X2CrNiMoN22-5-3 duplex stainless steel. The oxide film formed on all samples has a double-layer structure consisting of a barrier-type inner layer and a porous outer layer. Oxide films formed on the surface of steels mainly contains iron oxides and chromium oxide, while the surface film of the NiTi alloy mainly contains TiO 2 oxide.

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The electrochemical behavior of folic acid (FA), at the electrochemically prepared ex situ bismuth film (BiF) on glassy carbon electrode, clearly indicates electrocatalytic nature of the prepared film toward FA reduction (at -0.55 V). Scanning electron microscopy is used for morphological characterization of the prepared BiF. Accordingly, we establishing an electrochemical procedure based on square wave cathodic stripping voltammetry, preceded by accumulation of FA on the BiF electrode (BiFE). This analytical method is optimized and its analytical performance is presented. This electrode displays a two linear response range: 0.1 to 1.0 μmol L -1 and 1.0-10.0 μmol L -1 with sensitivity of 20.10 μA μmol -1 L and 2.28 μA μmol -1 L, respectively. Developed method was validated in compliance with spectrophotometric method. Excellent recovery and standard deviation obtained with BiFE revealed great analytical potential of the proposed method which was applied for the determination of FA in pharmaceuticals formulation.

The paper presents comparison of microstructure and fracture surface morphology of the CuAlNi shape memory alloy (SMA) after different heat treatment procedures. The investigation was performed on samples in as-cast state and heat treated states (solution annealing at temperatures of 850 °C / 60’ / H2O and 920 °C / 60’ / H2O along with tempering at two different temperature 150 °C / 60’ / H2O and 300 °C / 60’ / H2O). The microstructure of the samples was examined by optical (OM) and scanning electron microscope (SEM) equipped with device for EDS analysis. The obtained fracture surfaces were examined by SEM. Optical and scanning electron microscopy showed martensitic microstructure in all investigated samples. However, the fractographic analysis of samples after tensile testing reveals significant changes in fracture mechanism. In both solution annealed states the results shows transgranular type of fracture, but after tempering at two different temperatures the difference is obvious. After tempering at 150 °C, along with transgranular type of fracture appear some areas with intergranular type of fracture. After tempering at 300 °C, fracture surface reveals completely intergranular type of fracture.

This paper presents the results of thermal and microstructural analysis of Cu-Al-Ni shape memory alloy before and after heat treatment. After casting, a bar of Cu-12.8 Al-4.1 Ni (wt.%) alloy, obtained by the vertical continuous casting technique, was subjected to a certain heat treatment procedure. Solution annealing was performed at 850 °C for 60 min, followed by water quenching. Tempering was then performed at four different temperatures (150 °C, 200 °C, 250 °C and 300 °C). The microstructural results were obtained by optical and scanning electron microscopy. Thermodynamic calculation of ternary Cu-Al-Ni system under equilibrium was performed using Thermo-Calc 5 software. Phase transformation temperatures were determined by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The DSC results show the highest values of transformation temperatures in as-cast state. After solution annealing and tempering, the transformation temperatures show lower values with exceptional stability of Ms temperature (martensite start temperature).