Mechanical properties of vacuum-mixed acrylic bone cement.

The thrust of the present work was the experimental determination of the uniaxial static compressive and fully reversed tension-compression fatigue properties of CMW 3 acrylic bone cement whose constituents were mixed in a proprietary chamber while simultaneously subjected to a vacuum. Selected indices of performance in this material are: mean static compressive strength, 81.4 MPa; mean compressive modulus of elasticity, 1.95 GPa; endurance limit, 8.1 MPa; and characteristic fatigue life (using a three-parameter Weibull fit to the fatigue test data obtained at a stress of +/- 10 MPa), 238,712 cycles. The difficulties in comparing results obtained using different cement formulations, preparation conditions, and test conditions are detailed. With this in mind, it is suggested that the present results are within the range of values reported by previous workers for other formulations mixed using a variety of methods. The clinical significance of the present results is discussed.