Adhesion of Inorganic Fillers and Fibers to PMMA Matrix

INCREASING ADHESION OF INORGANIC FILLERS AND FIBERS TO PMMA MATRIX 

The acrylic bone cements have been widely used to successful prosthesis in total joint replacements for the last few decades. While the surgical replacement is very successful, the bone cement is often found as a failed material after long-term use. 

Mix details Fiber content and treatment First crack strength, Of (psi) First crack toughness, T (Ib-in.) I5 Co ho 30 Toughness index, Tjci (lb-in.)2 Equivalent flexural strength, CTb (psi)  

Based on the clinical reports, 10-45% of patients who received the surgical implant with the bone cement need revision surgery mainly due to the cement fracture [36,37]. It is commonly accepted that the fatigue is the major mechanism for the fracture of bone cement [37,38]. The weak resistance of bone cement to the fatigue loading has been addressed to the low molecular weight of matrix, weak interfaces between filler materials and matrix, agglomeration of X-ray-opaque powder, bubbles, and so forth [38-40]. 

Since the X-ray-opaque filler (e.g., Zr02) is one of the basic components of bone cement, the physical properties of bone cement should be treated as a composite material of polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and fillers. The physical properties of composite materials depend on the matrices, fillers, and interfaces between them. The most desirable situation may be the combination of good properties of each component material. For this purpose, the role of interface is very important for an efficient stress transfer from the matrix to the fillers [41,42]. 

---