Corrosion study of iron-cobalt alloys for MRI-based propulsion embedded in untethered microdevices operating in the vascular network.

Our group have shown in an experiment performed in the carotid artery of a living swine that magnetic gradients generated by a clinical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system could propel and navigate untethered medical microdevices and micro-nanorobots in the human vasculature. The main problem with these devices is that the metal necessary for magnetic propulsion may corrode and induce cytotoxic effects. The challenge, then, is to find an alloy with low corrosion yet providing an adequate magnetization level for propulsion in often stringent physiological conditions. Because of their high magnetization, we studied the corrosion behavior of two iron-cobalt alloys, Permendur (49% Fe, 49% Co, 2% V) and Vacoflux 17 (81% Fe, 17% Co, 2% Cr), in physiological solution by potentiodynamic polarization assay, surface analysis, and corrosion electrolyte analysis. Both alloys exhibited low corrosion parameters such as a corrosion potential (E(corr)) of -0.57 V/SCE and E(corr) of -0.42 V/SCE for Vacoflux 17. The surface of Permendur samples was homogenously degraded. Vacoflux 17 surface was impaired by cracks and crevices. Both alloys had a stoichiometric dissolution in the electrolyte, and they released enough cobalt to induce cytotoxic effects. This study concluded that Fe-Co alloys could be used preferably in medical microdevices if they were coated so as not to come in contact with physiological solutions.