Fracture characteristics of acrylic bone cement-bone composites

Abstract

In this study, the fracture properties of Perspex®, acrylic bone cement prepared using a commercially available reduced pressure mixing system and a bone cement-bone composite were compared under different test conditions. The method used was the double-torsion (DT) test. The observations made from this investigation are as follows. The fracture toughness and critical crack length for Perspex® significantly increased (ANOVA, p = 0.001) when tested in water compared to air. An increase in test temperature from 19 to 37°C resulted in a decrease in the fracture properties in water, this reduction being also statistically significant (ANOVA, p = 0.02). The mean fracture toughness and standard deviation of CMW^3TM bone cement when mixed under reduced pressure was 2.19 ± 0.11 MN m^−3/2 compared to 3.89 ± 0.10 MN m^−3/2 for the cement-bone composite (ANOVA, p = 0.004). The crack length determined for CMW^3TM bone cement and the cement-bone composite were 0.323 ± 0.031 and 1.1434 ± 0.61 mm respectively. The plateau loads of the composite material were higher than measured for the monolithic acrylic bone cement, 249.66 ± 67.75 N compared with 140.83 ± 6.82 N. The high level of variation recorded for the plateau loads of the bone cement-bone composite is due to the orientation and volume fraction of the cancellous bone. It can be concluded from this investigation that acrylic bone cement interdigitation into the cancellous bone results in a superior material with respect to crack resistance in comparison with the bone cement as a lone entity. Therefore it is an advantage if there is sufficient cancellous bone stock available within the intermedullary canal to allow bone cement penetration to occur, for the transfer of loads during daily activity. Additionally, it is paramount that the clinician ensures that adequate pressure is applied and maintained for an appropriate time during cement injection and prosthesis insertion in order to ensure optimum cement penetration into the pore openings of the cancellous bone, thus improving the resistance of the cement mantle to fracture and ultimately improving the longevity of the joint replacement.