Fracture characterisation of bone-cement bonded joints under mode I loading

Over the years, many techniques have been developed for the stabilisation of bone fractures. The study of the adhesion of bone-to-bone cement is an important step towards the development of new immobilization systems. Although bone cement has been used for more than fifty years, very few studies have been performed regarding the evaluation of fracture properties. In this work, numerical and experimental investigations were conducted to evaluate the strain energy release rate under mode I loading in a bone-cement bonded joint, using the Double Cantilever Beam (DCB) test. Cohesive zone laws were also measured combining the finite element method with non-linear elastic fracture mechanics. This has been made in a cortical bone bonded joint with poly- methylmethacrylate (PMMA). Consistent results have been obtained regarding fracture toughness in a widely used bone-to-bone cement joint in many biomedical applications.The first author acknowledges the Portuguese (FCT) for the conceded financial support through the reference grant PTDC/EME-SIS/28225/2017. M.F.S.M. de Moura acknowledges the ‘Laboratório Associado de Energia, Transportes e Aeronáutica’ (LAETA) for the financial support by the project UID/EMS/50022/2020. The corresponding author acknowledges FCT for the conceded financial support through the reference projects PTDC/EME-SIS/28225/2017 and UID/EEA/04436/2019.Funding: Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology for MsC grant of the first author, and research project PTDC/EME-SIS/28225/2017