Abstract
The fatigue behaviour of bone cement was investigated with respect to the influence of loading conditions. The tests were performed under simulated physiological conditions using a testing arrangement in accordance with ISO. A pure load-controlled and pure displacementcontrolled cycling procedure were compared. It is demonstrated that load control is much more critical and leads to decisively shorter life-times, or remarkably lower long-term strengths. In consequence, in order to determine reliable material properties for life-time predictions and safety assessments, it is necessary to measure the fatigue behaviour under load control as this corresponds to the normal physiological situation.