Influence of alloying elements on mechanical and corrosion properties of magnesium alloys

Magnesium alloys are considered as possible biodegradable materials that can be used for example as implants for the fixation of fractured bones. The main insufficiency of Mg and Mg-based alloys is too high corrosion rate, which mean that Mg-based implants are degraded or lose necessary mechanical properties in human organism before the tissue is sufficiently healed. Corrosion rate of magnesium alloys can be decreased by suitable alloying with Rare Earth elements (RE). In this work, we study the mechanical and corrosion properties of pure Mg, Mg-4Nd and WE33 in the as-cast state. Polarization curves and EIS measurements were used to estimate corrosion resistance of studied materials. Mg-4Nd and especially WE33 were characterized by significantly improved mechanical properties; however, corrosion resistance of both materials was strongly deteriorated compared to the pure Mg.