Mg and Mg alloys are becoming more and more of interest for several applications. In the case of biomaterial applications, a special interest exists due to the fact that a predictable degradation should be given. Various investigations were made to characterize and predict the corrosion behavior in vitro and in vivo. Mostly, the simple oxidation of Mg to Mg2+ ions connected with adequate hydrogen development is assumed, and the negative difference effect (NDE) is attributed to various mechanisms and electrochemical results. The aim of this paper is to compare the different views on the corrosion pathway of Mg or Mg alloys and to present a neglected pathway based on thermodynamic data as a guideline for possible reactions combined with experimental observations of a delay of visible hydrogen evolution during cyclic voltammetry. Various reaction pathways are considered and discussed to explain these results, like the stability of the Mg+ intermediate state, the stability of MgH2 and the role of hydrogen overpotential. Finally, the impact of MgH2 formation is shown as an appropriate base for the prediction of the degradation behavior and calculation of the corrosion rate of Mg and Mg alloys.
