Evaluation of biodegradable Zn-1Mg-1Mn and Zn-1Mg-1Mn-1HA composites with a polymer-ceramics coating of PLA/HA/TiO2 for orthopaedic applications.

Zn is a promising biodegradable metal that shows huge potential as bioresorbable implant material as it possesses outstanding biocompatibility and high corrosion resistance than Mg. However, the low value of mechanical strength and hardness has hugely restricted its application. Moreover, incorporating alloying elements have typically magnified its mechanical properties. In the current study, the effect of the alloying component Mn and HA on the Zn-Mg composite and also the effect of polymer-ceramics nanofiber coating on the composite sample was studied. The result shows that the current studied samples were mainly comprised of a primary Zn matrix and a secondary phase of Mg2Zn11. The prepared sample shows very high compressive yield strength (CYS 228 MPa) and hardness (83 HV). The value of corrosion rates of the as-cast Zn-1Mg-1Mn-1HA sample was higher in comparison to that of the as-cast Zn-1Mg-1Mn sample, but after the polymer-ceramics nanofiber coating formation of PLA/HA/TiO2, the values were reduced to a more significant extent and achieved values of 0.01484 mm/year from 0.01892 mm/year in electrochemical tests. Moreover, the coated and uncoated sample shows outstanding hemocompatibility for both samples, but the minimum value is obtained for coated Zn-1Mg-1Mn-1HA sample (2.251%). The viability of MG63 cells cultured in different diluted extracts (25% and 50% extract) of the coated Zn-1Mg-1Mn-1HA sample reached a value greater than 90%, which displayed no possible cytotoxicity for biomedical applications.