Synthetic Environments for the Testing of Metallic Biomaterials

Abstract

Synthetic environments used for testing biomaterials are considered. In terms of the environment they seek to simulate, these can be subdivided into saliva substitutes and body fluid substitutes. In respect of the former, it is seen that most formulations used in the past cannot even be taken into solution. In both cases, evidence is presented to suggest that use of electrochemical corrosion test methods or in-vivo use of the same methods gives results that are in error because of simultaneous anodic oxidation of organic species, such as simple redox-type amino acids. The correlation between in-vivo and in-vitro corrosion rates is examined. Agreement is far from satisfactory in many cases.