Designing organic-inorganic hybrid coating from composite and structures for the tribological property and corrosion resistance of Mg alloys

Magnesium alloys are promising materials for the regeneration of bioabsorbable implants, but restricted by its poor tribological property and the rapid corrosion. In this work, a robust organic-inorganic hybrid coating was fabricated on the surface of Mg-Nd-Zn-Zr alloys through a combination of chemical assembly technique of hydroxylated boron nitride (BNO) and plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition of vinyltriethoxysilane. The obtained hybrid coating simultaneously enhanced anti-wear and anti-corrosion properties in both the dry friction and simulated body fluid (SBF)-condition friction. The wear rates of the Mg alloy modified by BNO/siloxane hybrid coating were significantly reduced by 97.3% and 96.4% under dry and SBF conditions, respectively. This step-by-step coating modification method is applicable to various shapes of magnesium alloys and hence displays great potential in implant application.