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.