Acrylic bone cement is used as a fixing device in total hip arthroplasty and it is based on polymethyl‐methacrylate. Fatigue failure of the cement is the primary cause of loosening of cemented arthroplasties. Pores form in the acrylic material during mixing and curing, and an analysis of the fatigue life of the cement requires the elimination of the critical macropores, defined as having a diameter > 1 mm, which may bias the outcome of tests. Previous workers have rejected fatigue specimens either on a qualitative basis or at a specified pore size level. However various different thresholds have been considered but currently there is no quantitative criterion to define them. This investigation proposes a quantitative criterion for establishing a critical macropore size rejection threshold for fatigue specimens, and discusses the effectiveness of this criterion based on fatigue tests of radiopaque cement specimens.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Cristofolini et al. (2000) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: