Mechanical properties of poly(methyl methacrylate) bone cements.
Academic Article
Overview
abstract
Samples of low viscosity poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA), graphite reinforced PMMA, and graphite reinforced low viscosity PMMA were evaluated for their compression strength and fracture toughness. These results were compared with two currently used plain PMMA bone cements. There were no statistically significant differences in compression strength between the five cements. Graphite reinforcement of plain cement produced a 32% increase in fracture toughness over plain cement. Graphite reinforcement of low viscosity cement also produced a significant increase in toughness (31%) over low viscosity cement with fiber reinforcement. However, low viscosity cement demonstrated significantly less fracture toughness than plain PMMA.