This article reports the mechanical and biocorrosion behaviour of hollow silica nanosphere (SiO2) reinforced (0.5–2 vol.%) magnesium (Mg) syntactic foams. Room temperature tensile properties’ characterization suggests that the increased addition of hollow silica nanospheres resulted in a progressive increase in tensile yield strength (TYS) and ultimate tensile strength (UTS) with Mg-2 vol.% SiO2 exhibiting a maximum TYS of 167 MPa and a UTS of 217 MPa. The degradation behaviour of the developed Mg-SiO2 syntactic foams in four different simulated body fluids (SBFs): artificial blood plasma solution (ABPS), phosphate-buffered saline solution (PBS), artificial saliva solution (ASS) and Hanks’ balanced saline solution (HBSS) was investigated by using potentiodynamic polarization studies. Results indicate that corrosion resistance of the Mg-SiO2 syntactic foam decreases with increasing chloride ion concentration of the SBF. Mg-1.0 vol.% SiO2 displayed the best corrosion response and its corrosion susceptibility pertaining to corrosion rate and polarisation curves in different SBF solutions can be ranked in the following order: ABPS > PBS > HBSS > ASS. The surface microstructure demonstrated the presence of a better passivated layer on the syntactic foams compared to pure Mg. The observed increase in corrosion resistance is correlated with intrinsic changes in microstructure due to the presence of hollow silica nanospheres. Further, the effect of corrosive environment on the degradation behaviour of Mg has been elucidated.
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