Affiliations: Institute of Technical Sciences of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Knez Mihailova 35/IV, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro | The Vinča Institute of Nuclear Sciences, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro
Note: [] Corresponding author: Prof. Dragan Uskoković, Institute of Technical Sciences of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Knez Mihailova 35/IV, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro. Fax: +381 11 185 263; E‐mail: uskok@itn.sanu.ac.yu.
Abstract: An injectable polydimethylsiloxane/hydroxyapatite (PDMS/HAp) composite cement was synthesised using linear PDMS and HAp (particles of about 100 nm in size) of different mass fractions. The effect of HAp mass fraction (5–60 mass%) on the hardness of PDMS/HAp composite cement was investigated. The hardness achieved is 25–49°ShA. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) was used to study the cross‐linking process and the influence of HAp on the temperature and duration of PDMS/HAp cross‐linking. The microstructure of composite cement surfaces after 10 days in vivo tests was observed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The presence of well‐adhered macrophages, fibroblasts and monocytes was found on the implant surface upon its extraction from the organism.
Keywords: Composite cement, polydimethylsiloxane/hydroxyapatite, hardness, cross‐linking, in vivo test
