CORROSION STABILITY OF NICKEL IN NI-ALLOYS IN SYNTHETIC SWEAT

Skin contact with a metallic object containing nickel is liable to pro voke allel gic reactions if the quantity of nickel released is higher than a threshold of 8.267.10-(12)kg m(-2) s(-1) (0.5 mu g cm(-2) week (-1)). The release of nickel is deter mined by analysing the nickel in synthetic sweat in which the sample has lain for a week. The techniqu es used are atomic emission spectrophotometry for the analysis of the sweat and electron dispersive spectroscopy for the surface analysis. T he results obtained for three different Ni-alloys enabled us to unders core the importance of the corrosion test parameter (volume of synthet ic sweat per surface unit) on the quantity of nickel liberated, and th us leading us to a reflection about the mechanism of nickel dissolutio n within the framework of a reference test.