Computational Modelling of Corrosion Process in Medical Implant Surfaces

Abstract

Researchers apply different techniques to control the possible reactions between implant material surfaces and living tissues to prevent harmful corrosion defects by increasing life quality. However,corrosion process is difficult to predict experimentally,due to its complexity. Therefore,numerical simulations with predictive purpose can be used to estimate structural damage of biomedical implants. This paper focuses on implementation of cellular automata (CA) in computational modelling of corrosion process in medical implant surfaces. The model consists of two sub-models – pit initiation and pit growth model and a set of rules that define the change of states through time. The results are shown to describe well the progress of corrosion. Future steps would include the inclusion of experimentally obtained material properties and validation of results against experiments.