Comparison between the polymerization behavior of a new bone cement and a commercial one: modeling and in vitro analysis.

The polymerization behavior of a new bone cement based on poly(ethylmethacrylate), hydroxyapatite powder and n-butylmethacrylate monomer and a commercial cement have been studied. Polymerization kinetics were analyzed by means of differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). DSC data have been used to evaluate a phenomenological model describing the cure kinetics of this new bone cement. The kinetic model coupled with the energy balance was then used to obtain temperature and degree of conversion profiles in the bone-cement-prosthesis system, under non-isothermal conditions, as function of initial temperature and thickness of the cement. Material properties, boundary and initial conditions and the kinetic behavior were the input data for the numerically solved heat-transfer model. The modeling results have been compared with in vitro results.