Journal
BIOMATERIALS
Volume 31, Issue 20, Pages 5297-5305Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.biomaterials.2010.03.056
Keywords
Human cortical bone; Mixed-mode fracture; Fracture toughness; Crack-growth resistance curve
Funding
- National Institute of Health (NIH/NIDCR) through the U.S. Department of Energy [5R01 DE015633, DE-AC02-05CH11231]
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The majority of fracture mechanics studies on the toughness of bone have been performed under tensile loading. However, it has recently been shown that the toughness of human cortical bone in the transverse (breaking) orientation is actually much lower in shear (mode II) than in tension (mode I); a fact that is physiologically relevant as in vivo bone is invariably loaded multiaxially. Since bone is a material that derives its fracture resistance primarily during crack growth through extrinsic toughening mechanisms, such as crack deflection and bridging, evaluation of its toughness is best achieved through measurements of the crack-resistance or R-curve, which describes the fracture toughness as a function of crack extension. Accordingly, in this study, we attempt to measure for the first time the R-curve fracture toughness of human cortical bone under physiologically relevant mixed-mode loading conditions. We show that the resulting mixed-mode (mode I + II) toughness depends strongly on the crack trajectory and is the result of the competition between the paths of maximum mechanical driving force and weakest microstructural resistance. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
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