Abstract:The biodegradable magnesium and its alloys are a focus of degradable biomaterials research. Their modulus and density approach the human bone's. As implant materials, they can reduce the shielding of implants. They are also lighter than other medical metal. So, they are suitable materials for biodegradable orthopedic implants and vascular stents. But they are difficult to process, corrode rapidly, need a better biocompatibility. This paper reviews the current research status on magnesium and its alloys as biomedical materials. Their main problems and improvements as biomedical materials are introduced. Their directions as biomaterials are also briefly described. Author introduction.
IntroductionWith the development and progress of economic and social society, biomedical materials have broad market and good development, in which the implant materials are especially striking. There are mainly three kinds of biological implant materials: metal materials, ceramic materials and polymer materials. Because of the good performance, metal materials have been widely used in many medical fields, especially in the orthopedic field.Medical and implantable metal materials now commonly used are: stainless steel, titanium alloy and cobalt-chromium alloy, etc., and they have great advantages as the implanted material, but the biggest drawback is non-biodegradable, so they needed to be taken out by reoperation after completing its mission. Therefore, the research on biodegradable implant metal materials was born at the right moment. In the 1930s, magnesium alloy has been found biodegradable in the human body. Therefore, magnesium alloys become the study hotspot in the field of medical implant materials. Compared with biodegradable polymer material, magnesium alloys have good mechanical compatibility, and can provide higher initial stability and initial support. The specific strength of pure magnesium is 133GPa/(g/cm3), and the specific strength of magnesium alloy with super strength is 480GPa/(g/cm3), higher than that of Ti6Al4V (260GPa/(g/cm3)) nearly 1 times. Compared with traditional biomedical metal (stainless steel, cobalt chromium alloy, titanium alloy, etc.), modulus of elasticity (45GPa) and density (1.74 g/cm3) is closer to human body skeleton (20GPa, 1.75 g/cm3), after implanted in the body, which can effectively reduce the effect of the stress shielding, and it is lighter relative to other medical metal, suitable for hard tissue implant and tissue engineering scaffold material. Magnesium alloy has good biocompatibility. Magnesium is one of the mineral elements of the human body, and there is nearly 1 mol magnesium in the adult body, then it almost takes part in all the metabolic processes involved in the human body, close to nerve, muscle and heart function, and it is second only to calcium, potassium and sodium body constant elements.Because chemical properties of magnesium are lively, and the standard electrode potential is low, in complex ions environment of the human body, oxide film on the surface of the ...