Effects of impurities on the biodegradation behavior of pure magnesium

The corrosion behavior of pure magnesium that has different content ratio of impurities (such as Fe/Mn ratio) in Hanks’ solution was investigated in order to tailor the lifetime of biodegradable implant made of pure magnesium. Two distinct stages of corrosion were observed: a slow corrosion rate stage and a subsequent fast corrosion rate stage. The first stage was characterized by uniform corrosion that produced magnesium hydroxide and calcium phosphate film on a magnesium surface, resulting in a slow corrosion rate. The second stage with an abrupt increase in the corrosion rate was induced by Fe precipitates and was stimulated by an increase in the Fe/Mn ratio. This corrosion was developed to a preferred crystallographic pitting corrosion where the pits propagated along the preferred crystallographic plane and several layers of Mg planes with narrow interplanar space remained uncorroded. From this study, it is expected that the lifetime of the biodegradable implant made of pure Mg can be tailored by controlling the amount and ratio of the impurities.