Corrosion behavior of As-Cast binary Mg-Dy alloys

The addition of rare earth elements (REE) is an effective way to improve the corrosion properties of magnesium alloys. Dysprosium has a very high solubility in Mg (25.3 wt.% at 561 °C) and could therefore be a promising alloying element for Mg based implants. In this study, four binary Mg-xDy (x=5, 10, 15 and 20 in wt.%) alloys were prepared by permanent mould direct chill casting. Microstructure and Dy distribution were investigated using optical microscope and EDX analysis. Corrosion rate was measured with hydrogen evolution method and corrosion morphology was observed after immersion for different time in 0.9 wt% NaCl solution with optical and SEM. The results show that with the increase of Dy, the amount of Dy in Mg matrix and area of Dy segregation are both increased. At the same time, the amount of second phase is also increased. Filiform corrosion is reduced while pitting corrosion is increased with the increment of Dy. As a result, lowest corrosion rate is obtained at Mg-10Dy alloy.