Degradable borate glass polyalkenoate cements

Glass polyalkenoate cements (GPCs) containing aluminum-free borate glasses having the general composition Ag₂O–Na₂O–CaO–SrO–ZnO–TiO₂–B₂O₃ were evaluated in this work. An initial screening study of sixteen compositions was used to identify regions of glass formation and cement compositions with promising rheological properties. The results of the screening study were used to develop four model borate glass compositions for further study. A second round of rheological experiments was used to identify a preferred GPC formulation for each model glass composition. The model borate glasses containing higher levels of TiO₂ (7.5 mol %) tended to have longer working times and shorter setting times. Dissolution behavior of the four model GPC formulations was evaluated by measuring ion release profiles as a function of time. All four GPC formulations showed evidence of incongruent dissolution behavior when considering the relative release profiles of sodium and boron, although the exact dissolution profile of the glass was presumably obscured by the polymeric cement matrix. Compression testing was undertaken to evaluate cement strength over time during immersion in water. The cements containing the borate glass with 7.5 mol % TiO₂ had the highest initial compressive strength, ranging between 20 and 30 MPa. No beneficial aging effect was observed—instead, the strength of all four model GPC formulations was found to degrade with time.