TABLE OF CONTENTS Corrosion was a serious problem with early implant materials. However, knowledge of corrosion and mechanical properties of biomaterials has enabled the development of a number of extremely successful alloys, e.g., Ti-6Al-4V, 316LVM, and ASTM F1058 Co-Cr-Ni-Mo alloy. It is certain that improved versions of these alloys will continue to be developed in the future. As a result, as long as the chosen material matches the requirements of national and international standards, such as ISO 5832, it is very unlikely that a surgical implant will suffer a corrosion related failure. Most modern failures tend to stem from poor quality control, which can be traced back to either wrong choice of material or use of mismatched materials, which eventually results in galvanic corrosion.
Modern alloys have also reduced the extent to which potentially hazardous metallic ions leach out of biomedical devices. Nevertheless, there remains the concern that extended exposure to even very low levels of corrosion products could result in medical complications. This concern arises in part due to lack of knowledge as to what are the safe levels for transition metal ions to exist in the body. Leveraging on this concern, there is still a continuing need to further reduce passive corrosion rates.
