Influence of environmental conditions on the fatigue strength of bone cements

For the prediction of the long term behaviour of prosthesis fixation, fatigue tests of bone cement are of particular significance. These tests are frequently carried out in a bending arrangement. The environmental conditions in which these experiments are conducted, are not standardised: Testing is performed in Ringer's solution at 37°C, for instance, or in laboratory atmosphere at room temperature. An environment that could also be informative to predict the behaviour in the body is intralipid solution. In this study the influence of the surrounding medium should be investigated.