Abstract
The in-vitro degradation behavior and corrosion mechanism of Mg-4.0Zn-0.2Mn-0.2Ca (wt%) micro-tube was investigated by the immersion tests and electrochemical tests. The results show that the corrosion resistance of the micro-tubes can be improved by the annealing treatment. The long-term immersion tests reveal that the corrosion process is relatively uniform, and the corrosion rate of the annealed micro-tube in Hank's solution is about 0.30 mm/a. During the initial stage of immersion, Mg(OH)2 is formed on the surface of the annealed micro-tubes, forming a protective film to hinder the corrosion progress. Although the formed hydroxyapatite (HA) on Mg(OH)2 film can further reduce the corrosion rate, the coarse secondary phases in Mg matrix can enhance the galvanic corrosion effect. The generated abundant hydrogen may destroy the HA film, thus promoting the corrosion process.
Science Press
The coronary artery disease caused by the cardiovascular stenosis has become one of the major diseases affecting human healt
BDSs are mainly made of biodegradable polymeric or metallic materials. The first generation of BDS is made of polymer due to its good formability. Nevertheless, the mechanical strength of polymer stent is usually weaker than that of the metal one, and cannot provide an effective radial supporting force during the vascular remodeling process, resulting in the acute wall recoil and late restenosi
Despite the satisfactory performance of Mg alloys as vascular stents, their clinical application is still restricted due to the high corrosion rate (CR) and uncontrollable local corrosion. Currently, the corrosion behavior of Mg alloys has been widely investigate
The cylindrical hollow billet of Mg-4.0Zn-0.2Mn-0.2Ca alloy with the length of 15 mm, outer diameter of 30 mm, and inner diameter of 6.5 mm was extruded at 380 °C with the extrusion ratio of 30:1 to obtain the tube blanks. Multi-pass drawing was conducted to manufacture the micro-tube. The drawing process included 7 passes without mandrel and 6 passes with fixed mandrel. After drawing, the micro-tube was fabricated with the outer diameter of 3.6 mm and wall thickness of 0.4 mm. Finally, the micro-tube was annealed at 300 °C for 30 min to eliminate the work hardening.
Microstructure observation was conducted on the optical microscope (OM, AXIO IMAGER A2M) and scanning electron microscope (SEM, HITACHI S3400N) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscope (EDS). The specimens for OM observation were ground with SiC paper, polished with diamond paste of 0.5 μm in size, and etched by 5vol% nitric acid/alcohol solution. The relative Volta potential difference between the secondary phase and Mg matrix was measured through the scanning Kelvin probe force microscope (SKPFM, Bruker Icon) in the tapping mode with a magnetic etched silicon probe (NSC18/Pt) at room temperature (~25 °C) under the relative humidity of ~50%. Before SKPFM experiment, the specimens were mechanically polished to 1 μm in thickness and cleaned using alcohol.
The electrochemical behavior was tested by an electrochemical workstation (Autolab, PGSTAT302N) with three-electrode system. The saturated calomel electrode (SCE), platinum mesh, and specimen were regarded as the reference electrode, counter electrode, and working electrode, respectively. The specimen (tube length of 10 mm) was cut into two pieces along the longitudinal direction, then cold-mounted into the epoxy resin. The exposed surface (longitudinal section) was ground with SiC paper and cleaned with alcohol. The Hank's solution was adopted as the electrolyte. The open circuit potential (OCP) of working electrode was monitored for 300~500 s before the potentiodynamic polarization tests. The potentiodynamic polarization test was conducted at a constant scanning rate of 0.5 mV/s, and the range of test voltage of OCP was -300~300 mV. The electrochemical parameters, such as corrosion potential (Ecorr) and corrosion current density (icorr) were obtained by Tafel extrapolation method. Furthermore, the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) measurements were conducted in the frequency range from 100 kHz to 100 MHz with a perturbation of 10 mV, and EIS data were fitted by ZView3.1 software. Each test was repeated three times to ensure the reproducibility of results.
The micro-tube was cut into pieces of 10 mm in length, ground by SiC paper, and cleaned by alcohol. The Hank's SBF solution was composed of 8.00 g/L NaCl, 0.40 g/L KCl, 0.14 g/L CaCl2, 0.35 g/L NaHCO3, 0.10 g/L MgCl2·6H2O, 0.06 g/L MgSO4·7H2O, 0.06 g/L KH2PO4, 0.06 g/L Na2HPO4·12H2O, and 1.00 g/L C6H12O6. The pH value was adjusted to 7.4 using NaOH or HCl before immersion, and the temperature was kept at 37.4 °C during the immersion. The ratio of the specimen surface to the volume of Hank's SBF solution was 1 c
(1) |
where CR is the corrosion rate (mm/a); K is the constant of 8.76×1

Fig.4 SEM images of surface morphologies of annealed Mg-4.0Zn-0.2Mn-0.2Ca micro-tubes before (a~c) and after (d~f) removing corrosion products after immersion for 3 d (a, d), 7 d (b, e), and 14 d (c, f)


Fig.11 Schematic diagrams of corrosion evolution mechanism of Mg-4.0Zn-0.2Mn-0.2Ca micro-tube in Hank's solution: (a) Stage I, (b) Stage II, (c) Stage III, and (d) Stage IV

Fig.2a shows OCP of the Mg-4.0Zn-0.2Mn-0.2Ca micro-tubes before and after annealing in Hank's solution. The potential rises rapidly at the initial immersion stage, then slowly increases, and finally is stabilized at about -1.561 and -1.547 V vs. SCE for the micro-tubes before and after annealing, respectively. Moreover, the duration of achieving the stabilized potential of the micro-tube after annealing is longer than that before annealing. Generally, OCP reflects the corrosion resistance of materials: the higher the potential, the better the corrosion resistanc

Fig.2b presents the potentiodynamic polarization curves of the specimens before and after annealing in Hank's solution. The detailed electrochemical parameters obtained by Tafel fitting are listed in

EIS curves of the specimens after OCP measurement are shown in Fig.3. The Nyquist plots of micro-tubes before and after annealing are composed of a capacitance loop at the high and middle frequencies, respectively; both of them have an inductive loop at the low frequency region. In addition, the equivalent circuit of the investigated specimens is identical, which indicates that they possess the same corrosion model. Rs represents the solution resistance, Rf represents the resistance of corrosion film, CPE1 represents the constant phase element of corrosion film, CPE2 represents the double layer capacitance. Meanwhile, n is the dispersion index of 0~1. CPE is identical to a pure resistance or a capacitor if n is equal to 0 or 1, respectively. Rct is the charge transfer resistance, RL is the inductance, and L is the inductance resistance, which indicates the breakdown of the corrosion fil
Fig.5a illustrates the corrosion rate of the annealed Mg-4.0Zn-0.2Mn-0.2Ca micro-tubes after immersion for different durations. The immersion can be divided into three stages: the first stage of 3~14 d, the second stage of 30~90 d, and the third stage of 120~180 d. The corrosion rate firstly deceases and then increases, which is 0.14~0.19 mm/a in the first stage, then decreased to 0.11~0.15 mm/a in the second stage, and finally increased to 0.27~0.30 mm/a in the third stage. Particularly, the corrosion rate remains the similar value of about 0.27 mm/a after immersion from 120 d to 150 d. Bian et a
Fig.5b shows the mass loss ratio of the annealed Mg-4.0Zn-0.2Mn-0.2Ca micro-tube as a function of immersion time. The micro-tube loses about 80% mass after immersion for 180 d. In addition, the micro-tube maintains the integrity of structure after immersion for 30 d, and the corrosion pits can be observed on the micro-tube surface since the specimen is immersed for 14 d. With increasing the immersion time, the size of corrosion pits is increased gradually, and the integrity of the micro-tube is destroyed. Generally, the vascular stent needs to provide sufficient support during the first six months after implantation. The Mg-4.0Zn-0.2Mn-0.2Ca micro-tube can meet the require, thereby presenting promising application potential as the vascular stent. Moreover, the in-vivo degradation rate of Mg alloys is much smaller than the in-vitro degradation rat


Fig.6 shows SEM image and EDS analysis results of corrosion products of the annealed Mg-4.0Zn-0.2Mn-0.2Ca micro-tube after immersion for 14 d. It can be seen that the corrosion layer includes Mg, P, Ca, O, Cl, and Zn elements. EDS analysis of the gray-black product (point A) shows that the main elements are Mg and O, and their atomic ratio is close to 1:2. EDS result of the white corrosion product (point B) indicates that Mg content decreases, while the contents of P, O, and Ca elements obviously increase, compared with the results of point A. The composition of the white corrosion product is different from that of the gray-black one. Fig.7 shows XRD pattern of the corrosion products of the annealed Mg-4.0Zn-0.2Mn-0.2Ca micro-tubes. The main components are Mg(OH)2, hydroxyapatite (HA), (Ca, Mg)3(PO4)2, and Ca2(Mg, Zn)(PO4)2·H2O. Therefore, the gray-black and the white corrosion products are confirmed as Mg(OH)2 and HA, respectively. Mg(OH)2 is adhered to the surface to form the protective film at first. In the corrosion process, the phosphate ions (), carbonate ions (), calcium ions (C


During the immersion of Mg-4.0Zn-0.2Mn-0.2Ca micro-tubes, the pH value of the Hank's solution changes and affects the corrosion process. Fig.8 shows the pH value variation as a function of immersion time. The pH value increases rapidly from 7.43 to 8.23 in the initial stage. After immersion for 8 h, a short platform appears. Then the pH value increases slowly and is finally stabilized at about 8.6.

Fig.9 shows the surface potential map around the secondary phases and the corresponding potential distribution along the marked line in Fig.9a. At SKPFM work function mode, the bright area suggests the area with higher potential. The secondary phases show a brighter color than the Mg matrix does and the Volta potential difference is about 272 mV, confirming that the Ca2Mg6Zn3 phase is better than the Mg matrix and can act as micro-cathode during the corrosion process.
To further understand the corrosion behavior of Mg-4.0Zn-0.2Mn-0.2Ca micro-tube, CLSM was used to characterize the substrate surface without corrosion products. Fig.10a~10c show 3D morphologies of the specimens after removing the corrosion products with immersion for different durations, and the corrosion depth curves are depicted in Fig.10d. It can be seen that the primary corrosion type of the micro-tube is the pitting corrosion.
Additionally, the number of corrosion pits is decreased correspondingly, but the pit size is increased with prolonging the immersion duration. After immersion for 3 d, it can be observed that the maximum corrosion depth is 15 μm. After immersion for 7 d, some corrosion pits connect with each other to form larger pits, and the maximum depth of the corrosion pit is increased to 100 μm. It can be seen from Fig.10c and 10d that a large through hole (the depth is about 400 μm, which is similar to the wall thickness of the micro-tube) is formed on the micro-tube surface after immersion for 30 d.
The Mg(OH)2 protective film is formed at the initial stage of corrosion, according to the following formula
(2) |
(3) |
(4) |
Because the solubility product constant (Ksp) of HA is 1.6×1
1) Annealing is an effective approach to uniform the microstructure of Mg-4.0Zn-0.2Mn-0.2Ca micro-tube. The corrosion resistance of the micro-tube is improved after annealing.
2) The annealed micro-tube exhibits a slow corrosion rate of about 0.30 mm/a, indicating a good corrosion resistance performance.
3) During the immersion of the annealed micro-tubes,
Mg(OH)2 is firstly generated on the micro-tube surface, forming a protective film to hinder the corrosion. However, the Mg(OH)2 film can be easily destroyed by H2 and C
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