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Abstract

This study investigates the influence of incorporating bioactive ceramic particles on the mechanical performance of acrylic bone cement. The formulated composites contain certain weight fractions of hydroxyapatite (3,8,16) wt%, magnesia (2,3.5,5) wt% and a fixed amount of titania (2 wt% ). Vacuum mixing technique was adopted in order to reduce porosity and stress concentration. The microstructure of fabricated composites was characterized through Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and the mechanical properties were evaluated through tensile and michrohardness tests. Results showed deterioration in tensile strength with increasing amount of fillers which is attributable to the agglomeration of reinforcement phase which represented weak points in the matrix for crack initiation and propagation. Moreover, the strength results are consistent with the SEM images that showed significantly increased agglomerates with increasing amount of fillers. Results showed an enhancement in modulus of elasticity with the incorporation of strong fillers. However, the results of microhardness test did not reveal significant changes, where hardness can be affected by content of residual monomer, porosity and other material properties in addition to composition.