JOURNAL OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS Article Static and dynamic mechanical properties of graphene oxide-based bone cementing agents Aftab Ahmed Khan 1 , Eraj Humayun Mirza 2 , Badreldin Abdelrhaman Mohamed 3 , Mohamad Ahmed El-Sharawy 1 , Mohammed Hasil Al-Asmari 4 , Abdulaziz Abdullah Al-Khureif 4 , Mushtaq Ahmad Dar 5 and Pekka K Vallittu 6 Abstract The purpose of this laboratory study was to formulate graphene oxide (GO) nano-sheets and characterize composites of homogenously dispersed GO sheets in poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) acrylic resin of two groups, i.e., with 0.025 wt/wt.% GO (GO1-group) and 0.05 wt/wt.% GO (GO2-group). A large array of surface, mechanical and dynamic mechanical properties, including creep, recovery, stress relaxation behaviour and temperature and frequency sweep of the formulated bone cements were further characterized. Analysis of variance test results (p ¼ 0.05, n ¼ 5) indicated that the nanohardness and elastic modulus of the experimental groups were not significantly different from those of the control. Micro-computed tomography results showed high porosity in the experimental groups. The compressive strength significantly increased both in GO1- and GO2-group under dry and wet storage conditions. The dynamic mechanical properties suggest a desirable role of GO in polymerization with PMMA. The produced GO-PMMA com- posites exhibited the expected characteristics, so their use in developing low-loading bone cement composites appears to be promising. Keywords Bone cement, composite, dynamic mechanical properties, graphene oxide, poly(methyl methacrylate) Introduction Bone cement is a space filler used to hold implants by mechanical interlocking against bone. In addition to general considerations such as biocompatibility, key specific considerations for bone cement are its biomech- anical properties. 1 The cement should possess mechan- ical properties essential to anchoring a joint prosthesis to the interior of a bone to ensure proper functional performance. 2 Since the late 1950s, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) has been used in total joint arthroplasty. 3 These cements are composed of autopolymerizing PMMA, and their final setting is intended to be in situ. The advantages of PMMA-based cementing materials include their ease of preparation and application, quick polymerization, and fast recov- ery. 4 However, some disadvantages exist, including bone necrosis due to exothermic reactions, leaching of 1 Dental Biomaterials Research Chair, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 2 Department of Biomedical Engineering, NED University of Engineering & Technology, Pakistan 3 Department of Community Health, King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 4 Department of Dental Health, King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 5 Center of Excellence for Research in Engineering Materials (CEREM), College of Engineering, King Saud University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 6 Department of Biomaterials Science, Institute of Dentistry, University of Turku, Finland Corresponding author: Aftab Ahmed Khan, Dental Biomaterials Research Chair, College of Applied Medical Sciences, King Saud University, Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Email: aakjk@hotmail.com Journal of Composite Materials 2019, Vol. 53(16) 2297–2304 ! The Author(s) 2019 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions DOI: 10.1177/0021998319826347 journals.sagepub.com/home/jcm