Strength and Ductility Loss of Magnesium-Gadolinium due to Corrosion in Physiological Environment: Experiments and Modeling

Abstract

We propose a computational framework to study the effect of corrosion on the mechanical strength of magnesium (Mg) samples. Our work is motivated by the need to predict the residual strength of biomedical Mg implants after a given period of degradation in a physiological environment. To model corrosion, a mass-diffusion type model is used that accounts for localised corrosion using Weibull statistics. The overall mass loss is prescribed (e.g., based on experimental data). The mechanical behaviour of the Mg samples is modeled by a state-of-the-art Cazacu–Plunkett–Barlat plasticity model with a coupled damage model. This allowed us to study how Mg degradation in immersed samples reduces the mechanical strength over time. We performed a large number of in vitro corrosion experiments and mechanical tests to validate our computational framework. Our framework could predict both the experimentally observed loss of mechanical strength and the ductility due to corrosion for both tension and compression tests.