Effect of MMA-g-UHMWPE grafted fiber on mechanical properties of acrylic bone cement

Abstract

Ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibers were treated with argon plasma for 5 min, followed by uv irradiation in methyl methacrylate (MMA)-chloroform solution for 5 h to obtain MMA-g-UHMWPE grafted fiber. The grafting content was estimated by the titration of esterification method. The grafting amount of 5280 nmol/g was the largest for the MMA concentration at 18.75 vol%. To improve the mechanical properties of acrylic bone cement, pure UHMWPE fiber and MMA-g-UHMWPE fiber were added to the surgical Simplex. P radiopaque bone cement. The mechanical properties including tensile strength, tensile modulus, compressive strength, bending strength, and bending stiffness were measured. Dynamic mechanical analysis was also performed. By comparing the effect of the pure UHMWPE fiber and MMA-g-UHMWPE grafted fiber on the mechanical properties of acrylic bone cement, it was found that the acrylic bone cement with MMA-g-UHMWPE grafted fiber had a more significant reinforcing effect than that with untreated UHMWPE fiber. This might be due to the improvement of the interfacial bonding between the grafted fibers and the acrylic bone cement matrix.

Radiation‐induced graft copolymerization of MMA monomer onto UHMWPE: Adhesion improvement

“…The methods of achieving grafting reaction using radiation include (1) synchronized irradiation of the backbone polymer in the presence of the monomer, (2) preirradiation of the backbone polymer in vacuum or nitrogen gas and subsequent monomer grafting by trapped radicals, and (3) preirradiation of the backbone polymer in the presence of air or oxygen. 1,[11][12][13][14][15][16][17] The trapped radicals, formed by irradiation in air, are transformed gradually into peroxides and hydroperoxide species, which in second step in contact with monomer at higher temperature may result in undesirable homopolymerization initiated by the mobile hydroxyl radicals formed in the thermal decomposition reaction. It is possible to solve this problem with a reducing agent, such as metallic salt (Mohr salt), to decompose the peroxide species.…”

Biocomposites

“…It is selfpolymerizing and contains solid PMMA powder and liquid methylmethacrylate (MMA) monomer. Researchers have tried to improve the mechanical properties of bone cement by reinforcing with stainless steel and Ti alloy wires, and polymer fibers such as UHMWPE (Wagner and Cohn, 1989;Pourdeyhimi and Wagner, 1989;Yang et al, 1997), Kevlar, carbon (Pilliar et al, 1976), and PMMA (Gilbert et al, 1995). Therefore, when the bone cement sets or hardens, it mechanically interlocks with the roughened bone surface and the prosthesis.…”

Plasma-treated yarns for biomedical applications

“…In one such study the mechanical properties of acrylic bone cement were improved using the plasma modification technique. Yang et al [160] treated ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibres with argon plasma for 5 min, followed by uv irradiation in methyl methacrylate (MMA)-chloroform solution for 5 h to obtain MMA-g-UHMWPE grafted fibre. The grafting content was estimated by the titration of esterification method.…”