In vitro Corrosion Behavior and Biological Properties of Magnesium- Zinc-Calcium Alloy Coated with Polycaprolactone Nanofibers

Magnesium alloys have received great attention for the medical applications such as bone implants mainly due to high biocompatibility and mechanical properties. But the main challenge of using magnesium alloys is its high rate of degradation. Many researches have been focused on how to control the corrosion rate of these alloys and in this work, the nanofibers of polycarprolactone were applied by electrospining technique onto the Mg-4Zn-2Ca alloy as a thin coating to reduce corrosion rate. The Tafel polarization test showed that the applied coating reduced the corrosion rate by about two order of magnitudes. The amount of hydrogen released by the corrosion reactions in the coated sample was much less than that of the uncoated sample. Biocompatibility test showed that 8% less cytotoxicity of the coated sample compared to the uncoated ones. In the cell adhesion test, it was observed that much more cells adhere onto the coating rather than uncoated sample. coating Mg alloys with this material and morphology could have some advantages for future implants.