The Effect of the Third Element on Corrosion Behavior and Phase Structure of Fe35Mn Alloy Fabricated by Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS)

In recent years, investigations on accelerating of corrosion of Fe-Mn based alloys as biodegradable ones in orthopedic applications are aggrandized. Alloy composition is one of the effective factors in this case. This study is focused on the effect of the third element on the corrosion behavior of Fe35Mn alloy. For this purpose, four alloys including Fe35Mn, Fe35Mn2Ti, Fe35Mn2Ta, and Fe35Mn2Zr were produced by mechanical alloying. Then cylindrical samples of each alloy were fabricated by spark plasma sintering method (SPS) with pressing in 50MPa and sintering at 1000°C for 20 minutes simultaneously. All the specimens were evaluated by x-ray diffraction (XRD), light microscope, and potentiodynamic polarization test to compare the effect of the third element as Ta, Ti, and Zr. Results revealed that adding the third element increases the corrosion rate. It is found that the most effective element was Ta. Also, the weight changes of specimens after immersion in SBF at different times for predicting their probable behavior in the human body were measured. The foundlings could be utilized in medical applications.