Effects of solid diffusion zinc treatment on corrosion behavior, antibacterial ability, and cytocompatibility of AZ31B magnesium alloy

Magnesium (Mg) and its alloys are considered as promising implant materials due to their biodegradability. However, high degradation rate cannot well match tissue repair process and may result in severe cytotoxicity. In addition, post-surgery infection may also raise safety concerns. In the present work, solid diffusion zinc was adopted to construct a barrier coating on the surface of AZ31B Mg alloy. The results show the coating is composed of MgZn and Mg2Zn11 intermetallics, which possesses good corrosion resistance, antibacterial ability, and cytocompatibility. The alloy after 8 h of the treatment shows the highest comprehensive performance thus is promising as biomedical coating of Mg alloy.