Fatigue crack growth rates in Ringer's solution have been shown to be significantly higher than in air, and the crack growth threshold level reduced by the presence of a corrosive environment. This demonstrates that cast cobalt alloys are susceptible to corrosion fatigue effects in the human body, at least during crack propagation, and the proposed mechanism for this involves the synergistic effect of crack tip corrosion and the effects of cyclic stress which produce a ‘true corrosion fatigue’ phenomenon.
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