Chemical, Electrochemical, and Surface Morphological Studies of the Corrosion Behavior of the AZ31 Alloy in Simulated Body Fluid: Effect of NaOH and H2O2 Surface Pretreatments on the Corrosion Resistance Property

Magnesium and its alloys have attracted attention for biomedical implant materials in dental and orthopedic applications because of their biodegradability and similar properties to human bones. The very high rate of degradation in the physiological systems is, however, a major setback to their utilization. Chemical modification is one of the approaches adopted to enhance the corrosion resistance property of Mg and its alloys. In this work, NaOH and H2O2 were used as a pretreatment procedure to improve the corrosion resistance of the AZ31 Mg alloy in simulated body fluid (SBF). Advanced techniques such as dynamic electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (dynamic-EIS), atomic force microscopy, and optical profilometry were used in addition to the classical mass loss, hydrogen evolution, EIS, and polarization techniques to study the corrosion resistance property of the alloy in SBF for 30 h. Results obtained show that the surface treatment significantly enhanced the corrosion resistance property of the alloy. From dynamic-EIS at 30 h, the charge transfer resistance of the untreated AZ31 Mg alloy is 432.6 Ω cm2, whereas 822.7 and 2617.3 Ω cm2 are recorded for NaOH- and H2O2-treated surfaces, respectively. H2O2 is a better treatment reagent than NaOH. The mechanism of corrosion of both untreated and treated samples in the studied corrosive medium has been discussed.