Calcium phosphate cement reinforced with poly (vinyl alcohol) fibers: An experimental and numerical failure analysis

Ali Paknahad,Mohsen Goudarzi,Nathan W Kucko,Sander C.G Leeuwenburgh,Lambertus J Sluys

doi:10.1016/j.actbio.2020.10.014

Abstract

Calcium phosphate cements (CPCs) have been widely used during the past decades as biocompatible bone substitution in maxillofacial, oral and orthopedic surgery. CPCs are injectable and are chemically resemblant to the mineral phase of native bone. Nevertheless, their low fracture toughness and high brittleness reduce their clinical applicability to weakly loaded bones. Reinforcement of CPC matrix with polymeric fibers can overcome these mechanical drawbacks and significantly enhance their toughness and strength. Such fiber-reinforced calcium phosphate cements (FRCPCs) have the potential to act as advanced bone substitute in load-bearing anatomical sites. This work achieves integrated experimental and numerical characterization of the mechanical properties of FRCPCs under bending and tensile loading. To this end, a 3-D numerical gradient enhanced damage model combined with a dimensionally-reduced fiber model are employed to develop a computational model for material characterization and to simulate the failure process of fiber-reinforced CPC matrix based on experimental data. In addition, an advanced interfacial constitutive law, derived from micromechanical pull-out tests, is used to represent the interaction between the polymeric fiber and CPC matrix. The presented computational model is successfully validated with the experimental results and offers a firm basis for further investigations on the development of numerical and experimental analysis of fiber-reinforced bone cements.

Highlights

Calcium phosphate cements (CPCs) are widely applied in maxillofacial, oral and orthopedic surgery [1,2,3,4,5,6]
The mechanical response of a CPC matrix reinforced by PVA fibers subjected to bending and tensile loading was investigated both experimentally and numerically
To develop a comprehensive numerical model, we proposed the use of 3-D gradient enhanced damage model combined with a dimensionally reduced fiber model to numerically characterize the failure behavior of a fiber-reinforced CPC matrix

Summary

Introduction

Calcium phosphate cements (CPCs) are widely applied in maxillofacial, oral and orthopedic surgery [1,2,3,4,5,6]. These cements are osteoconductive, biocompatible and chemically resemblant to the mineral phase of bones and teeth [7,8,9,10,11,12]. Mechanical properties of CPCs were assessed mostly by performing diametral and uniaxial compression tests and their mechanical response to bending and tensile loading are rarely reported due to the inherent technical challenges [28,29,30,31,32,33,34,35]

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