Cement Extrusion Tester(CET™)

Rapid, low-cost determination of cement curing kinetics

Measurement of cement curing kinetics is critical for both R&D and quality control, but has traditionally required use of either complex and costly rheometers or highly variable qualitative tests for handling characteristics. The new Cement Extrusion Tester (CET) provides accurate curing kinetics data and quantitative determination of handling characteristics from a single, rapid test.

Designed for analysis of PMMA bone cement, the CET can provide accurate viscosity data for any reacting system with viscosity in the range of 50-5000 Pa*s, including:

  • Quality control
  • Validation
  • Rapid R&D screening
  • Biomedical materials testing
  • General cement cure times

Principals of Operation

A reacting sample is loaded into a standard disposable syringe and placed in the CET syringe holder. The CET then extrudes the sample from the syringe at a constant displacement rate and measures the applied extrusion force and syringe temperature. Sample viscosity is calculated in real-time during the extrusion from force/displacement-rate calibration data obtained from NIST-traceable standard fluids of known viscosity, allowing dynamic measurement of viscosity and reaction temperature thresholds. An optional temperature control system allows pre-test conditioning of the sample chamber to ensure consistent test conditions, or stable control of sample temperature during testing.

The CET is a compact instrument that easily fits in a fume hood or other controlled environment, and is extremely simple to set up and operate. All sample fluid is contained in disposable syringes for high throughput and minimal cleaning. The system can easily be modified to support a wide range of syringes or custom extrusion barrels, allowing characterization of materials in the application-specific geometries. Custom control software provided with the instrument allows execution of tests, review of data files, and saving and printing of HTML test reports.

For more Information contact CPG using our contact us page.