Corrosion and wear behavior of an Mg–2Zn–0.2Mn alloy in simulated body fluid

In this work, the corrosion behavior of the as-cast and extrusion and aging treatment Mg–2Zn–0.2Mn alloy in simulated body fluid (SBF) were studied. The wear behavior of Mg–2Zn–0.2Mn alloy was investigated using pin-on-disk technique and stainless steel as counterbody under a constant sliding velocity at different loads ranging from 2 to 5 N with deionized water and SBF as lubrication. The results showed that the extrusion and aging treatment Mg–2Zn–0.2Mn alloy exhibited better corrosion resistance compared with the as-cast alloy due to finer average grain size, more homogeneous phase distribution, and decrease in porosity. The friction coefficient of fractional pair under SBF and deionized water lubrication were obviously lower than that of dry sliding condition. However, the wear rate of Mg–2Zn–0.2Mn alloy under SBF lubrication was higher than that of dry sliding and deionized water lubrication due to the corrosiveness of SBF accelerated the wear of the magnesium alloy. The magnesium alloy exhibited different wear mechanisms with the variety of loads and lubrication conditions.