Interfacial fracture toughness between bovine cortical bone and cements.

To evaluate the bonding strength of the interfaces within the cemented arthroplasty system, various mechanical tests have been used. Conventional push-out and pull-out tests cannot reveal the actual bonding property of the interface because of the significant influence of surface roughness on the measured adhesion and the failure to account for the mismatch of elastic modulus across the interface. An alternative fracture mechanics approach, which considers the mix of opening and shear modes of the crack tip loading associated with the testing system and the elastic mismatch of materials across the interface, was used to evaluate the bonding ability of various cements. The four-point bend interfacial delamination test by Charalambides et al. (J. Appl. Mech. 56 (1989) 77; Mech. Mater. 8 (1990) 269) was used to quantify the bonding ability of cements. This method is arguably more suitable since the applied loading mode is comparable to the nature of loading within the prosthetic system, which is primarily bending. The bovine bone specimens were polished to mirror finish to eliminate bonding by mechanical interlocking. The results revealed minimal bonding for the conventional bone cement (PMMA) whereas substantial bonding was evident for the glass-ionomer cements tested. However, only the conventional glass-ionomer cements showed evidence of bonding on testing, while the resin-modified glass-ionomer cement (poly-HEMA) did not. The latter appeared to debond before testing because of excessive expansion stresses associated with swelling in water.

Comparison of failure characteristics of a range of cancellous bone-bone cement composites.

Over the past decade, orthopedic surgery has embraced an increase in the depth of cement penetration into the adjacent cancellous bone structure. The resultant interdigitation transforms this zone into a thick layer of continuous interpenetrating composite material. The failure behavior of the composite formed with a number of potential bone cements with different bonding ability was investigated. The cancellous bone-cement composites exhibit considerable resistance to crack extension, and in situ optical observation indicates that the contribution of the cancellous bone is analogous to that of a typical fiber bridging process. The critical stress intensity factor and the work of fracture have been used to quantify the failure characteristics of the cancellous bone-cement composites. The nature of the crack propagation through these cement-bone composites was also captured via optical microscopy, and scanning electron microscopic images were taken of the failure surfaces. The R-curve behavior, or crack extension characteristic, of the cancellous bone-cement composite was also determined. The interesting outcome is that the cancellous bone-PMMA (poly-methylmethacrylate) composite, despite the absence of chemical bonding with bone, required the highest energy to fracture. In addition, the dimensional stability of the cement has a great effect on the interface.

Time dependence of the mechanical properties of GICs in simulated physiological conditions.

The mechanical properties of glass-ionomer cements (GICs) have been satisfactory for dental applications and have shown their potential in orthopedic surgery. Because the physiological environment in orthopedics is different from dentistry by unavoidable contamination with blood and other fluids such as normal saline used during an operation, the determination of GICs for orthopedic applications should be performed in an appropriate environment. The properties of a novel resin-modified GIC, S430, for orthopedic applications were evaluated in simulated orthopedic conditions by an early exposure to and long-term storage in normal saline. An early exposure to normal saline caused 20-60% reduction of its compressive and flexural properties, whereas long-term storage in normal saline showed slight changes of its mechanical properties. The effects were probably due to the disturbance of the cross-linking formation in the acid-base reaction and also the reduction of electrostatic interactions of the cross-linking polymeric chain of hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) in resin-modified GIC.

Effects of glass ionomer cements on bone tissue.

In vivo biocompatibility of glass ionomer cements (GICs) was evaluated for use in orthopaedic surgery using a rat model and compared with conventional bone cement, Polymethyl methacrylate, PMMA. The unset GICs and PMMA were inserted into the marrow cavities of rat femora and retained in situ for various periods of time. The PMMA bone cement showed complete biocompatibility with no interference with reparative bone. The conventional GIC with smaller glass particles and lower powder/liquid ratio showed an initial minor toxic effect on rat bone tissue with later disturbance of adjacent bone formation. The conventional GIC with larger-size glass particles and higher powder/liquid ratio and resin-modified GIC showed more severe toxic effect on rat tissue with the resin-modified GIC affecting the rat bone tissue later. The causes of toxicity associated with the conventional GIC with larger glass particles and higher powder/liquid ration and the resin-modified GIC are thought to be related with the unreacted acid component of both materials and longer ongoing metallic ion release.