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Abstract
Magnesium (Mg) and its alloys have been extensively explored as potential biodegradable
implant materials for orthopaedic applications (e.g. Fracture fixation). However,
the rapid corrosion of Mg based alloys in physiological conditions has delayed their
introduction for therapeutic applications to date. The present review focuses on corrosion,
biocompatibility and surface modifications of biodegradable Mg alloys for orthopaedic
applications. Initially, the corrosion behaviour of Mg alloys and the effect of alloying
elements on corrosion and biocompatibility is discussed. Furthermore, the influence
of polymeric deposit coatings, namely sol-gel, synthetic aliphatic polyesters and
natural polymers on corrosion and biological performance of Mg and its alloy for orthopaedic
applications are presented. It was found that inclusion of alloying elements such
as Al, Mn, Ca, Zn and rare earth elements provides improved corrosion resistance to
Mg alloys. It has been also observed that sol-gel and synthetic aliphatic polyesters
based coatings exhibit improved corrosion resistance as compared to natural polymers,
which has higher biocompatibility due to their biomimetic nature. It is concluded
that, surface modification is a promising approach to improve the performance of Mg-based
biomaterials for orthopaedic applications.