Recent Advances on Biocompatible coating on Magnesium alloys by Micro Arc Oxidation Technique

Magnesium alloys are suitable biological material because of its favourable mechanical qualities, high biocompatibility, and biodegradability. However, it has poor corrosion resistance and has rapid dissolution in the corrosive environment which will weakens its mechanical characteristics. The surface characteristics of magnesium alloy must thus be changed using a suitable surface modification technology, such as micro arc oxidation (MAO). This article examines recent developments and advancements in biodegradable surface coatings applied to magnesium alloys. It was observed there are four steps of MAO process, the formation of a thinner and denser barrier, commencement of oxides in bare Ca-Mg matrix following the presence of sparks; the horizontal expansion of the oxide layer, and finally thickening of MAO coating. It was observed that characteristics of MAO coating can changed by varying electrical parameters like duty cycle, current density, type of power output, frequency, and processing time. It was noticed that when all other factors are held constant, duty cycle, processing time, and frequency primarily effect the coating's porosity, number of cracks and thickness, which in turn influences how well the coating performs. DC, AC, pulsed bipolar, and pulsed unipolar, are the four categories into which the current regimes are classified. It was found that, unipolar current mode MAO coatings found to be rough, highly porous, and vulnerable to microcracks due to stronger spark discharge. MAO coating produced in a bipolar current type of mode have larger pores but are more uniform in thickness and compact. It was noticed that the in-vitro cell assays showed cells L929 on the Ca-P coated Mg alloy to have considerably good adhesion, a high growth rate, and strong proliferation (p 0.05). In other words, the cytocompatibility was greatly enhanced by the Ca-P coating. It was discovered that the Ca-P coated Mg alloy improved cell responsiveness and encouraged early bone formation at the implant/bone interface by both conventional pathological examination and immunohistochemistry investigation. The Ca-P coating was found to be an effective method for raising the surface bioactivity of Mg alloy. It was also observed that the calcium phosphate coating deposited by MAO process improve surface biomineralization which is the main mechanism behind bioactivity. Functional groups that are present on surface engage electrostatically through calcium and phosphate ions from solutions to start the biomineralization process. Calcium phosphates have excellent biocompatibility and are quite comparable to the mineral makeup of bone. The current study aims to investigate the bioactivity of calcium phosphate coatings and the characteristics of magnesium and its alloys.