Title: Effect of vacuum mixer brand on tensile properties of acrylic bone cement

Authors: Alexandra Schonning, Carmen Masnita Iusan, Mark Rawls, Michael Straatsma, Peter Wludyka, Michael Patney, J. Ryan Cotton

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of North Florida, 1 UNF Dr., Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA. ' Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of North Florida, 1 UNF Dr., Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of North Florida, 1 UNF Dr., Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of North Florida, 1 UNF Dr., Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA. ' Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of North Florida, 1 UNF Dr., Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA. ' Department of Orthopaedics, University of Florida Shands Jacksonville, 655 West 8th St., ACC bldg. 2nd fl., Jacksonville, FL 32209, USA. ' Department of Orthopaedics, University of Florida Shands Jacksonville, 655 West 8th St., ACC bldg. 2nd fl., Jacksonville, FL 32209, USA

Abstract: The effect of vacuum mixer brand is studied on six commercial bone cements, three with prophylactic doses of antibiotics and three without. The modulus of elasticity, ultimate tensile strength, maximum strain, and 0.2% yield strength was analysed. Bone cement specimens were manufactured and tested in accordance with ASTM D638 specifications using three different types of vacuum mixers in an operating room. The specimens were tested in a universal testing machine. Statistical analysis revealed that a proprietary mixer did not generally outperform the other two mixers for its own cement. It was found that the mixer had a significant effect on the results and that the Stryker/Simplex mixer generally outperformed Biomet and Zimmer. However, for the Simplex bone cement, the mixer type did not have a significant effect for most of the data analysed. The overall conclusion is that the proprietary mixer does not perform the best with its own cement.

Keywords: acrylic bone cement; tensile strength; modulus of elasticity; antibiotics; vacuum mixer brand; tensile tests; maximum strain; yield strength.

DOI: 10.1504/IJECB.2011.039948

International Journal of Experimental and Computational Biomechanics, 2011 Vol.1 No.4, pp.381 - 396

Published online: 30 Dec 2014 *

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