Corrosion fatigue fracture of magnesium alloys in bioimplant applications: A review

• Corrosion-assisted cracking of body implants is a critical criterion.
• There is very little literature on corrosion fatigue cracking of magnesium alloys as implants.
• The article critically reviews the knowledge gap, and discusses potential mitigation methods.

Magnesium (Mg) alloys have recently attracted great attention for potential biodegradable implant applications. Cracking/fracture of metallic implants under the simultaneous action of corrosion and mechanical stresses, viz., corrosion fatigue (CF) or/and stress corrosion cracking (SCC) is an obviously critical criterion before any new material could be deployed as implants. This article presents a review of the available literature on CF of Mg alloys in corrosive environments including simulated-body-fluid (SBF) and the associated fracture mechanism, and identifies the knowledge gap. A brief overview of the mitigation strategies to combat the possible CF failures of Mg alloys is also presented.