Corrosion Science 49 (2007) 103–111 www.elsevier.com/locate/corsci 0010-938X/$ - see front matter  2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.corsci.2006.05.008 Metal release from various grades of stainless steel exposed to synthetic body Xuids G. Herting ¤ , I. Odnevall Wallinder, C. Leygraf Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Division of Corrosion Science, Royal Institute of Technology, Dr Kristinas v. 51, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden Available online 30 June 2006 Abstract Release rates of individual alloy constituents have been determined from seven grades of stainless steels exposed to two synthetic body Xuids, used as surrogates for diVerent areas of potential expo- sure in the lung: “Gamble’s solution”, (pH 7.4) that represents the interstitial Xuid of the deep lung, and artiWcial lysosomal Xuid (ALF) that represents the more acidic (pH 4.5–5) milieu of particles fol- lowing their phagocytosis by macrophages. Total metal release rates from all grades of stainless steel investigated were low (<5 g cm ¡2 week ¡1 ). The more acidic environment of ALF resulted in signiW- cantly higher total metal release rates (0.3–4.6 g cm ¡2 week ¡1 ) compared to Gamble’s solution (<0.1 g cm ¡2 week ¡1 ).  2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Keywords: A. Stainless steel; B. XPS; C. Passive Wlm 1. Introduction The corrosion resistance of stainless steels is well known in a wide range of media [1], but few studies exist concerning release rates of alloy constituents from stainless steels into body Xuids. Stainless steels may come into contact with a wide range of body Xuids, including e.g. sweat, saliva, blood/plasma/lymphatic Xuid, synovial Xuid, respiratory tract Xuids, and gas- tric juice. Reliable information on metal release rates is invaluable when assessing the potential for risk of adverse eVects arising from exposure to metal constituents of stainless * Corresponding author. Tel.: +46 8 7906878; fax: +46 8 208284. E-mail address: herting@kth.se (G. Herting).