Electrochemical characterization of magnesium bioabsorbable implants2014 IEEE International Symposium on Medical Measurements and Applications (MeMeA)

The bone surgery often makes use of implants to sustain and fix the bones during the healing phase. Commonly used implants require a surgical procedure to be removed after bone healing, so there is a strong demand for a new typology of bio-absorbable implants. Magnesium and its alloys are promising materials for orthopedic self-degrading implants, mainly if they are protected by a thin coating. The design of Mg-based implants cannot disregard the adoption of a simple measurement procedure for assessing and monitoring the corrosion evolution in environments simulating the body fluids. This paper describes a measuring approach for the corrosion behavior assessment of different Mg-based alloys uncoated and coated with innovative surface treatments, based on Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy measurements.