Corrosion Behavior of Fe-Mn-C Alloy as Degradable Materials Candidate Fabricated via Powder Metallurgy Process

Abstract

Fe-Mn alloys are prospective degradable materials for coronary stents. Several methods and strategies are investigated to produce excellence properties for this application, such as addition of alloying elements. The study is focused on the corrosion behavior of novel Fe-Mn alloys, i.e. Fe-25Mn-1C and Fe-35Mn-1C fabricated by powder metallurgy process. Addition of carbon is intended to obtain the phase that has ability to easily degradable without compromising its mechanical properties. The results show that austenite phase formed from this process and corrosion rate increased in proportion with the manganese addition from 32.2 mpy (Fe-25Mn-1C) to 43.7 mpy (Fe-35Mn-1C) using polarization methods. The presence of porosity, which cannot be extinguished by sintering, makes the degradation favorable. The results of this study indicate that these alloys have prospective properties to be applied as degradable biomaterials.