Amorphous and Crystalline Magnesium Alloys for Biomedical Applications

Amorphous and crystalline magnesium alloys, developed for medical applications – especially implantology – present the characteristics of biocompatible magnesium alloys (Mg-Zn, Mg-Zn-Ca, Mg-Ca etc.). This chapter provides a brief description of the role of magnesium in the human body and the use of Mg in medicine. It presents the concept of using magnesium alloys in medicine (advantages and limitations) and the scope of their potential applications (orthopedic implantology, cardiac surgery etc.). The chapter shows classification of magnesium alloys as potential biomaterials, due to their structure (amorphous, crystalline) and alloying elements (rare earth elements, noble metals etc.). The mechanism and in vitro degradation behavior of magnesium alloys with amorphous and crystalline structures are described. The chapter also discusses the influence of alloying elements (rare earth elements, noble metals) on the in vitro degradation process. It also presents the methods of reducing the degradation rate of magnesium alloys by modifying their surface (application of protective layers)

Structure, properties, and crystallization of Mg-Cu-Y-Zn bulk metallic glasses

The Mg60Cu30Y10 and Mg65Cu 20Y10Zn5 bulk metallic glasses in the form of a rod 2 mm in diameter were successfully prepared by the conventional Cu-mold casting method. The addition of Zn caused the decrease in the crystallization and melting temperatures in comparison with the Mg60Cu 30Y10 alloy. The crystallization and melting temperatures are crucial factors that influence the casting process. An increase in annealing temperature leads to structural changes by the formation of the crystalline phases and lowers the compressive strength. These results obtained for the Mg-based bulk metallic glasses (Mg-BMGs) are important for some practical reasons, in particular, for developing the fabrication process. It has been shown that minor addition of an alloying element can change glass-forming ability and strength of the Mg- BMGs

Influence of magnetite nanoparticles shape and spontaneous surface oxidation on the electron transport mechanism

The spontaneous oxidation of a magnetite surface and shape design are major aspects of synthesizing various nanostructures with unique magnetic and electrical properties, catalytic activity, and biocompatibility. In this article, the roles of different organic modifiers on the shape and formation of an oxidized layer composed of maghemite were discussed and described in the context of magnetic and electrical properties. It was confirmed that Fe3O4 nanoparticles synthesized in the presence of triphenylphosphine could be characterized by cuboidal shape, a relatively low average particle size (9.6 2.0 nm), and high saturation magnetization equal to 55.2 emu/g. Furthermore, it has been confirmed that low-frequency conductivity and dielectric properties are related to surface disordering and oxidation. The electric energy storage possibility increased for nanoparticles with a disordered and oxidized surface, whereas the dielectric losses in these particles were strongly related to their size. The cuboidal magnetite nanoparticles synthesized in the presence of triphenylphosphine had an ultrahigh electrical conductivity (1.02 104 S/cm at 10 Hz) in comparison to the spherical ones. At higher temperatures, the maghemite content altered the behavior of electrons. The electrical conductivity can be described by correlated barrier hopping or overlapping large polaron tunneling. Interestingly, the activation energies of electrons transport by the surface were similar for all the analyzed nanoparticles in low- and high-temperature ranges

Protection properties of conversion coatings based on nitrates for resorbable Mg alloy

In this work, conversion coatings based on nitrates Ca(NO 3) 2 and Zn(NO 3) 2 were produced on the surface of MgZn49Ca4 to protect against corrosion. The main aim of this study was to prepare dense and uniform coatings using a conversion method (based on nitrates Ca(NO 3) 2 and Zn(NO 3) 2) for resorbable Mg alloys. The scientific goal of the work was to determine the pathway and main degradation mechanisms of samples with nitrate-based coatings as compared with an uncoated substrate. Determining the effect of the coatings produced on the Mg alloy was required to assess the protective properties of Mg alloy-coating systems. For this purpose, the morphology and chemical composition of coated samples, post corrosion tests and structural tests of the substrate were performed (optical microscopy, SEM/EDS). Immersion and electrochemical tests of samples were also carried out in Ringer’s solution at 37°C. The results of immersion and electrochemical tests indicated lower corrosion resistance of the substrate as compared with coated samples. The hydrogen evolution rate of the substrate increased with the immersion time. For coated samples, the hydrogen evolution rate was more stable. The ZnN coating (based on Zn(NO 3) 2) provides better corrosion protection because the corrosion product layer was uniform, while the sample with a CaN coating (based on Ca(NO 3) 2) displayed clusters of corrosion products. It was found that pitting corrosion on the substrate led to the complete disintegration and non-uniform corrosion of the coated samples, especially the CaN sample, due to the unevenly-distributed products on its surface

PEO layers on Mg-based metallic glass for decreasing hydrogen evolution

PING 2019 is organized with the support of funds for specific university research project SVK1-2019-002.The amorphous Mg-based alloys may be used as metallic biomaterials for resorbable orthopedic implants. The Mg-Zn-Ca metallic glasses demonstrate fast and variable in time corrosion rate in simulated body fluid. Due to phase composition of the Mg-based materials, the mechanism of corrosion is different. In this work as substrate for coatings the Mg66Zn30Ca4 alloy was chosen. In previous studies [1] the Mg66Zn30Ca4 metallic glass characterized good mechanical strength and high glass forming ability. This work reports on the surface modification of a Mg66Zn30Ca4 metallic glass by plasma electrolytic oxidation (PEO). Results of immersion tests in Ringer’s solution allowed to determine the amount of evolved hydrogen in a function of time for base Mg66Zn30Ca4 metallic glass and sample with PEO coating. In comparison to the noncoated Mg66Zn30Ca4 alloy, the sample with PEO layer showed a significantly decreased hydrogen evolution volume. The hydrogen evolution rate of the studied samples decreased during the following immersion time. The possible reason of this phenomena is formation of corrosion products layers on surface samples, which act as protection layer

Study of the Morphology and Properties of Biocompatible Ca-P Coatings on Mg Alloy

Magnesium alloys are considered as potential biomaterials for use in orthopedic implantology. The main barrier to the use of Mg alloys in medicine is their overly fast and irregular degradation in body fluids. The use of protective calcium phosphate coatings to increase the corrosion resistance of Mg alloy (AM50 alloy: 4 wt.% Al, 0.3 wt.% Mn, 0.2 wt.% Zn, rest Mg) was examined in this study. The scientific goal of the study was the assessment of the influence of calcium phosphate layer morphology on the corrosion process in Ringer’s solution. Modification of the coating morphology was obtained by changing the chemical composition of the phosphatizing bath using NaOH (NaAM50 sample) or ZnSO4 (ZnAM50 sample). In practice, a more dense and uniform coating could be obtained by the immersion of AM50 alloy in a solution containing ZnSO4 (ZnAM50 sample). In this study, an adhesion test performed on the ZnAM50 sample indicated that the critical load was 1.35 N. XRD phase analysis confirmed that the obtained coatings included dicalcium phosphate dihydrate (CaHPO4*2H2O). The coatings prepared on the NaAM50 and ZnAM50 samples are effective barriers against the progress of corrosion deeper into the substrate. After 120 h immersion in Ringer’s solution, the volume of the evolved hydrogen was 5.6 mL/cm2 for the NaAM50 and 3.4 mL/cm2 for the ZnAM50 sample