Interfacial fracture toughness of synthetic bone-cement interface.

Conventionally, the bonding strength of bone-cement interface is obtained by mechanical strength testing which tends to produce large variability between specimens and test methods. In this work, interfacial fracture toughness of synthetic bone-cement interface has been determined using sandwiched Brazilian disk specimens. Experiments were carried out under selected loading angles from 0 to 25 degrees to achieve full loading conditions from mode I to mode II. Solutions for complex stress intensity factors as well as strain energy release rates were obtained for a sandwich disk with a finite interlayer using the finite element method. Phase angles were obtained at a fixed distance to the crack tip. The fracture loads were obtained from the load displacement curves and the values of interfacial fracture toughness were calculated from the fracture loads and the finite element J-integral solutions. The implication of this information on the assessment of fixation in acetabular replacements was discussed in the light of in-vitro fatigue testing of implanted acetabula.