Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jul;108(5):1961-1971.
doi: 10.1002/jbm.b.34537. Epub 2019 Dec 20.

Fracture toughness and crack resistance curves of acrylic bone cements

Tobias Ziegler  1 , Raimund Jaeger  1
Affiliations

Fracture toughness and crack resistance curves of acrylic bone cements

Tobias Ziegler et al. J Biomed Mater Res B Appl Biomater. 2020 Jul.

Abstract

The fracture toughness KIc of 11 clinically used acrylic bone cements was studied in air at room temperature with single edge V-notched beam specimens. By driving the crack step-wise through the specimens, crack resistance curves ("R-curves") were recorded. One group of bone cements showed an increase of the fracture toughness with increasing crack length (including CMW1+G and several Palacos bone cements) whereas another group (including Simplex, SmartSet, Copal and some Palacos bone cements) did not exhibit an R-curve behavior. The plateau values for KIc ranged from 0.93 MPa√m (Simplex P) to 1.98 MPa√m (Palacos R+G). The observation of the crack growth with an optical microscope revealed some mechanisms influencing the crack growth like the formation of microcracks in the extended damage zone of the crack tip, the attraction of the crack by inclusions or the shielding of the crack tip by bridges in the wake of the crack. Furthermore, bone cements could be distinguished by the pattern of the path the crack followed during propagation. The crack pattern of CMW1+G provides a possible explanation of the distinct R-curve behavior of this cement.

Keywords: acrylic bone cement; crack resistance curve; fracture toughness KIc; implant fixation.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. ASTM-E399-12. (2012). Standard test method for linear-elastic plane-strain fracture toughness KIc of metallic materials. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM International.
    1. ASTM-E561-19. (2019). Standard test method for Kr curve determination. West Conshohocken, PA: ASTM International.
    1. Atkins, A. G., & Mai, Y. W. (1988). Elastic and plastic fracture (pp. 130-143). Chichester, England: Ellis Horwood.
    1. Atkins, A. G., & Mai, Y.-W. (1985, 1985). Elastic and plastic fracture: Metals, polymers, ceramics, composites, biological materials (p. 817). Chichester, England: Ellis Horwood.
    1. De Wijn, J., Slooff, T., & Driessens, F. (1975). Characterization of bone cements. Acta Orthopaedica Scandinavica, 46(1), 38-51.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources