Effect of porosity and environment on the mechanical behavior of acrylic bone cement modified with acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene particles: part II. Fatigue crack propagation.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of adding an elastomeric second phase, acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene, on the fatigue crack propagation behavior of poly(methyl methacrylate) bone cement. Moreover, the influence of porosity and environmental conditions was studied. When comparing the plain cement to the modified cement, a decrease in the crack propagation rate was observed at between 1 and 2 orders of magnitude. The storage in a physiological environment (saline solution at 37 degrees C) also caused a decrease in the crack propagation rate of about 2 orders of magnitude for the plain and modified cement prepared in air or under a vacuum. Porosity did not have any noticeable effect on the fatigue crack propagation behavior of the cement.