Mixing of acrylic bone cement: effect of oxygen on setting properties.

The present study investigates the effect of different mixing methods on the setting properties of bone cement. It was found that vacuum mixing decreased the setting time of the bone cement by nearly 2 min (10%), compared to mixing in air. Two additional experiments, in which the bone cement powders were purged with argon or oxygen, and mixed with the methyl methacrylate monomer, revealed that oxygen concentrations in the bone cement had a great effect on the setting time. The setting time increases significantly as the oxygen concentration increases, which suggests that the decrease in the setting time by vacuum mixing may be attributed to the lower oxygen levels present in the mixer. No significant effect was observed on dough time or maximum exothermic temperature by varying oxygen concentrations in the bone cement mixer.