Evaluation of fracture toughness of cartilage by micropenetration

Failure properties of cartilage are important in injury repair and disease, but few methods exist for measuring these properties, especially in small animals. To meet this need, a new indentation/penetration method for measuring fracture toughness of cartilage is proposed. During indentation, a conical tip is displaced into the surface of the cartilage, causing first a non-penetrating indentation, and then a penetration into the tissue. The method assumes that tissue penetration occurs during periods of rapid work, which are identified from a curve of work rate vs. time. Total penetration depth is determined by summing the displacement during these periods. Fracture work is the work that occurs during rapid work, or penetration, and fracture toughness defined as the fracture work divided by one-half the penetrated surface area of the indenting tip. The method was validated by indentation testing of bovine cartilage. Penetrating indentations with a conical tip were performed in bovine patellar cartilage and depth of penetration and fracture toughness predicted. For comparison with the indentation data, depth of penetration was measured in histological sections. These measurements agreed well with the predicted depth. Predicted fracture toughness also agreed with values measured via a macroscopic test. This newly described method has promise as a general method for measuring fracture toughness in cartilage, particularly in small animals, since penetrating tips with small tip radius can be manufactured and penetration may be accomplished in cartilage of minimal thickness. (C) 2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers.