Degradation behaviour of magnesium-rare earth biomedical alloys

Magnesium alloys have recently attracted significant attention as a new class of biodegradable implant materials. The primary focus has been on mechanical properties, biological response and biodegradation. The alloys of current interest concern magnesium alloys with rare earth (RE) elements. We describe here the state-of-the-art knowledge on the corrosion behaviour of Mg-RE alloys in conjunction with the biological behaviour and mechanical properties. The addition of RE elements in magnesium alloys provide benefits of improved corrosion resistance via reduction in galvanic sites together with superior mechanical properties.