Impact of test environment on the fracture resistance of cortical bone

Shin, Mihee; Zhang, Min; vom Scheidt, Annika; Pelletier, Matthew H.; Walsh, William R.; Martens, Penny J.; Kruzic, Jamie J.; Busse, Björn; Gludovatz, Bernd

Affiliations

¹School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

²Department of Osteology and Biomechanics, University Medical Center Hamburg, D-22529, Hamburg, Germany

³Department of Macroscopic and Clinical Anatomy, Medical University of Graz, A-8010, Graz, Austria

⁴Surgical and Orthopaedic Research Laboratories, Prince of Wales Clinical School, University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

⁵Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

⁶Interdisciplinary Competence Center for Interface Research, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, D-22529, Hamburg, Germany

Abstract

Water is a crucial component of bone, affecting the interplay of collagen and minerals and contributing to bone's high strength and ductility. Dehydration has been shown to significantly effect osseous mechanical properties; however, studies comparing the effects of various dehydrating environments on fracture toughness of bone are scarce. Accordingly, the crack resistance curve (R-curve) behavior of human and sheep cortical bone was characterized in a bio-bath, in ambient pressure air, and in scanning electron microscopes (SEMs) under three different environmental conditions (water vapor pressure, air pressure, and high-vacuum). The aim of this work was to better understand the impact of test environment on both intrinsic and extrinsic toughening and hence crack initiation toughness, K₀ and crack growth resistance, dK/dΔa. Results show significantly lower K₀ values for samples that were tested inside SEMs combined with pronounced extrinsic toughening through microcracking and crack path deflections out of the mode I plane. Importantly, all three SEM test environments gave similar results, and thus it does not matter which type of SEM is used. Ex situ testing of hydrated samples revealed similar K₀ for both environments but elevated crack growth resistance for testing in ambient air relative to the bio-bath. Our data reveals the experimental difficulties to directly observe microscale crack propagation in cortical bone that resembles the in vivo situation. Ex situ testing immersed in Hanks' Balanced Salt Solution (HBSS) with subsequent crack path analysis, while tedious, is thought to presents the most realistic picture of the in vivo structure-fracture property relations in biological tissue.

Links

DOI: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2022.105155

PubMed: 35313188

WoS: 000791581900001

History

Received: 2021-09-19

Revised: 2022-02-24

Accepted: 2022-02-27

Online: 2022-03-3

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