Rheological characterization of concentrated aqueous β-tricalcium phosphate suspensions: The effect of liquid-to-powder ratio, milling time, and additives

The field of injectable calcium phosphate suspensions and cements is experiencing vigorous research activity. This is stimulated by their importance for the cement augmentation procedure (vertebroplasty), which is an emerging procedure to treat osteoporotic fragility fractures. The rheological properties such as the yield stress and viscosity play an important role in the process of cement delivery and infiltration into the cancellous bone cavities. However, the number of studies relating to their rheological properties is very limited. The objective of this first study was to examine the effects of the following three variables on the rheological properties of a non-setting β-tricalcium phosphate suspension: liquid-to-powder ratio, milling of powder particles, and additives. The broad finding is that all the variables affect the rheological properties remarkably. The more specific salient finding is the large variation in viscosity and in the yield stress. The viscosity spanned three orders of magnitude and the yield stress spanned five orders of magnitude. It appears that the rheological properties can be altered at will. However, one has to exercise extreme caution because these changes are not without cost to other important properties such as the cohesiveness and mechanical properties of the cement. Another important finding is that a linear correlation between the yield stress and the viscosity was found. Measurement of one of these variables might be enough to determine the other.