Effects of various rolling deformations on the microstructure, mechanical properties, corrosion behavior, and cytocompatibility of biodegradable Zn-0.5Mn alloys

•Generally, the rolling results in softening of Zn alloys, but when the rolling temperature is 220℃, the strength of Zn-0.5mn alloy with 85 % rolling deformation increases but plasticity decreases little.•The Zn-0.5mn alloy with 85 % rolling deformation had a slower corrosion rate in the early stage and a faster corrosion rate in the later stage, and the pit expands along the transverse direction, but its longitudinal expansion is not much. In this work, the effects of various rolling deformations on the microstructural evolution, mechanical properties, corrosion behavior, and cytocompatibility of Zn-0.5Mn alloys were studied. When the rolling deformation is 85 %, the microstructure of the Zn-0.5Mn alloy becomes dendritic after repeated heating. Besides the distribution at the grain boundary, MnZn13 started to be distributed in the intracrystalline. Meanwhile, the mechanical properties of the Zn-0.5Mn alloy reached the best. Its corrosion behavior under various rolling deformations was characterized by electrochemical and immersion tests. Results show that the alloy with 85 % rolling deformation has a slower corrosion rate in the early stage and a faster corrosion rate in the later stage. Cytocompatibility results show that a high concentration of rolled Zn-0.5Mn alloy extract has slight toxicity to MC3T3-E1 cells. After dilution, the alloy with 85 % rolling deformation shows the best cytocompatibility.