In vitro corrosion and biocompatibility study of phytic acid modified WE43 magnesium alloy

Phytic acid (PA) conversion coating on WE43 magnesium alloy was prepared by the method of immersion. The influences of phytic acid solution with different pH on the microstructure, properties of the conversion coating and the corrosion resistance were investigated by SEM, FTIR and potentiodynamic polarization method. Furthermore, the biocompatibility of different pH phytic acid solution modified WE43 magnesium alloys was evaluated by MTT and hemolysis test. The results show that PA can enhance the corrosion resistance of WE43 magnesium especially when the pH value of modified solution is 5 and the cytotoxicity of the PA coated WE43 magnesium alloy is much better than that of the bare WE43 magnesium alloy. Moreover, all the hemolysis rates of the PA coated WE43 Mg alloy were lower than 5%, indicating that the modified Mg alloy met the hemolysis standard of biomaterials. Therefore, PA coating is a good candidate to improve the biocompatibility of WE43 magnesium alloy. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier B.V.