Effect of electrodeposition modes on surface characteristics and corrosion properties of fluorine-doped hydroxyapatite coatings on Mg-Zn-Ca alloy

The microstructure, morphology and composition highly determine the corrosion resistance and bioactivity of coating. In traditional cathodic electrodeposition process, because of the unfavorable effects of the polarization of concentration difference and H₂ evolution, fluorine-doped hydroxyapatite coating was loose and porous. This coating could not ensure the long-term stability of the Mg alloy implants. In order to improve the corrosion resistance and bioactivity of coating, pulse electrodeposition and H₂O₂ were introduced into the electrodeposition to deposit fluorine-doped hydroxyapatite coating. As a comparative study, microstructure, corrosion resistance properties and bioactivity of traditional cathodic electrodeposition coating and pulse electrodeposition coating were investigated, respectively. The results revealed that nano fluorine-doped hydroxyapatite coating could be prepared by pulse electrodeposition, and the coating was dense and uniform. The potentiodynamic polarization experiment indicated that the dense and uniform coating could effectively protect Mg alloy substrate from corrosion. Immersion testing was performed in simulated body fluid. It was found that pulse electrodeposition coating could more effectively induce the precipitation of Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺ and PO₄³⁻ in comparison with traditional cathodic electrodeposition coating, because the nano phase had comparatively high specific surface area. Thus magnesium alloy coated with fluorine-doped nano-hydroxyapatite coating may be a promising candidate as biodegradable bone implants, and was worthwhile to further investigate the in vivo degradation behavior.