Effect of Zn on glass-forming capacity and corrosion resistance of Ca-based amorphous alloys

•Ca60-xMg20Zn20+x (x=2,4,6,8,10) has not been reported in previous studies.•The corrosion rate of the Ca-based amorphous alloy can be easily tuned by controlling the crystallized volume fraction via crystallization treatment.•The corrosion rate of Ca56Mg20Zn24 alloy in SBF is approximately linear with the crystallization volume fraction. In this paper, amorphous alloy thin strips with Ca60-xMg20Zn20+x (x=2,4,6,8,10) composition ratio were prepared by single roll spin quenching and the effect of Zn on the microstructure and biological corrosion behavior of these alloys was investigated. It is found that Ca60-xMg20Zn20+x alloy strip is absolutely amorphous, and Ca56Mg20Zn24 alloy has the best glass forming ability. When Zn content is lower than 24 at.%, the glass-forming ability (GFA) and corrosion properties of Ca-Mg-Zn alloy are improved gradually with the increase of Zn content. However, when Zn content exceeds 24 at.%, the GFA and corrosion properties of Ca-Mg-Zn alloy decrease gradually with the increase of Zn content. After the crystallization treatment of Ca56Mg20Zn24 alloy strip, it is found that the greater the crystallization degree of Ca56Mg20Zn24 alloy, the weaker the corrosion resistance of the alloy, and the corrosion resistance of the alloy has a linear relationship with the crystallization degree.