A novel flow chamber for biodegradable alloy assessment in physiologically realistic environments

In order to better understand the in vivo corrosion of biodegradable alloys, it is necessary to replicate the physiological environment as closely as possible. In this study, a novel flow chamber system is developed that allows the investigation of biodegradable alloy corrosion in a simulated physiological environment. The system is designed to reproduce flow conditions encountered in coronary arteries using a parallel plate setup and to allow the culturing of cells. Computational fluid dynamics and analytical methods are used as part of the design process to ensure that suitable flow conditions are maintained in the test region. The system is used to investigate the corrosion behavior of AZ31 alloy foils of different thickness, in test media with and without proteins and in static and dynamic solutions. It is observed that pulsatile flows, similar to those in the coronary arteries, significantly increase corrosion rates and lead to a different corrosion surface morphologies relative to static immersion tests.