Production of Bone Cement Composites: Effect of Fillers, Co-monomer and Particles Properties

Artificial bone cements (BCs) based on poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) powders and methyl methacrylate (MMA) liquid monomer also present in their formulation small amounts of other substances, including a chemical initiator compound and radiopaque agents. Because inadequate mixing of the recipe components during the manufacture of the bone cement may compromise the mechanical properties of the final pieces, new techniques to incorporate the fillers into the BC and their effect upon the mechanical properties of BC pieces were investigated in the present study. PMMA powder composites were produced insitu in the reaction vessel by addition of X-ray contrasts to the reacting MMA mixture. It is shown that this can lead to much better mechanical properties of test pieces, when compared to standard bone cement formulations, because enhanced dispersion of the radiopaque agents can be achieved. Moreover, it is shown that the addition of hydroxyapatite (HA) and acrylic acid (AA) to the bone cement recipe can be beneficial for the mechanical performance of the final material. It is also shown that particle morphology can exert a tremendous effect upon the performance of test pieces, indicating that the suspension polymerization step should be carefully controlled when optimization of the bone cement formulation is desired.