Hemolysis effect and calcium-phosphate precipitation of heat-organic film treated magnesium

A heat-organic-films process was employed to induce calcium-phosphate apatites formation on magnesium, consequently the corrosion resistance and hemolysis properties of magnesium were improved for biomedical applications. Firstly, magnesium samples were heat-treated at 773 K for 10 h; secondly, stearic acid films were coated on the surface of the heat-treated magnesium. Then the surface modified magnesium was soaked in simulated body fluid (SBF) to test its corrosion resistance. The results show that the heat treatment process allows magnesium to form a dense oxide layer with a thickness of around 20 μm, thereby the surface modified magnesium has higher corrosion resistance. After 24 h in SBF island apatite was deposited on magnesium. The unevenly precipitates were characterized by XRD and FTIR as the mixture of hydroxyapatite(HA) and octacalcium phosphate(OCP). The preliminary hemolysis experiment indicates that untreated magnesium has hemolytic effect (about 60%); whereas the heat-organic film treated samples has no hemolytic effect. The mechanism of fast nucleation and growth of calcium-phosphate apatites on surface modified magnesium in SBF was also discussed.