| Abstract: | A review about the accelerating effect of tertiary aromatic amines used as activator in the benzoyl peroxide/amine system for the curing of acrylic resins is presented. The kinetics, mechanism and activation energy of the reaction are considered, together with some toxicity, residuals and leaching data concerned with biomedical applications of this system, e.g. denture resins or acrylic bone cements. Furthermore, some results relating the effect of the temperature of the surroundings on the curing parameters of the cements prepared with three amines (N,N-dimethyl-4-toluidine, N,N-dimethylbenzyl alcohol and N,N-dimethylbenzyl methacrylate) are shown. The results indicate that the temperature has a significant effect on the curing parameters, and must be considered in the evaluation of new activators. The relevance of these results lies with the importance of thermal trauma generally associated with the implantation of acrylic bone cements. © 1998 SCI. |
