Corrosion Behavior of Porous Mg Alloy in Simulated Body Fluid

Magnesium (Mg) alloy possess a high demand in biomedical applications due to their biocompatibility and biodegradability. However the main limitation for Mg alloy is their fast degradation rates in physiological environment. This paper reports the preparation of porous Mg alloy through powder metallurgy technique by using ammonium bicarbonate (NH4HCO3) as space holder material and hexane as solvent. The corrosion behavior and degradation rate of porous Mg alloy was measured after 24h, 96h and 168h respectively of immersion in simulated body fluid (SBF) with compact Mg alloy as control. The results reported that degradation rate increased with increasing immersion period, yet the compact Mg alloy shows better degradation rate than porous Mg alloy. Moreover, the pH of SBF changed proportional to immersion period and stabilized after 96h of immersion.