Critical discussion of the results from different corrosion studies of Mg and Mg alloys for biomaterial applications

The aim of this work was to collect and compare data from different published reports which focused on the description of the influence of different electrochemical setups for the assessment of magnesium corrosion. Based on this, a comparison with our own results, obtained for LAE 442 and AZ 31, was made and discussed. As the collection of data has shown, the reported inconsistencies between in vivo and electrochemical data depend greatly on the electrochemical medium used, on the alloy composition and on surface preparation. Nevertheless, these differences also exist when comparing different in vitro results using different methodologies and even different Mg alloys, and need therefore to be discussed more thoroughly in the future. The simulation of transport conditions of the in vivo interface should become a focus of research interest in order to gain a better understanding of the influence of connecting processes on the degradation of the biomaterials. (C) 2010 Acta Materialia Inc. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.