Formation of stacking faults for improving the performance of biodegradable Mg–Ho–Zn alloy

• We prepared a new Mg–RE–Zn alloy strengthened by stacking faults for the first time.
• The alloy shows good combination of mechanical properties and corrosion resistance.
• The alloy presents a uniform corrosion characteristic due to stacking faults (SFs).
• The alloys with SFs are the new promising biodegradable implant materials.

A novel Mg–6Ho–1Zn alloy was successfully prepared, which had a good combination of mechanical properties and corrosion resistance due to the formation of profuse nano-spaced basal plane stacking faults (SFs). The ultimate tensile strength (UTS), tensile yield strength (TYS) and elongation were 325 MPa, 224 MPa and 17%, respectively. More importantly, the alloy with SFs presented a uniform corrosion behavior in simulated body fluid (SBF) with a low corrosion rate of about 0.5 mm/year, which could avoid rapid reduction in mechanical integrity. The performance of the alloy with SFs could be further improved by optimizing the microstructure. The investigation suggests that the alloys with SFs are promising biodegradable implant materials.

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