Praseodymium-surface-modified magnesium alloy: Retardation of corrosion in artificial hand sweat

• Praseodymium ion implantation is used to modify the surface of magnesium alloy.
• A praseodymium-containing oxide film is formed in the near surface.
• The corrosion resistance in artificial hand sweat is improved.

Surface oxides can retard the onset of corrosion on metals in an aggressive environments. In this work, praseodymium is selected to modify the surface oxides on magnesium alloys based on the reactive element effect and added into pure magnesium and aluminum-containing magnesium alloys by ion implantation. A thicker praseodymium-rich oxide layer is obtained on the magnesium substrate after ion implantation compared to the original oxide film. The corrosion resistance in artificial hand sweat is improved as demonstrated by polarization and immersion tests. The improvement observed from the aluminum-containing magnesium alloy is more significant than that from pure magnesium.