Effect of aging on the toughness of human cortical bone:Evaluation by R-curves
Age-related deterioration of the fracture properties ofbone, coupled with increased life expectancy, is responsible forincreasing incidence of bone fracture in the elderly, and hence, anunderstanding of how its fracture properties degrade with age isessential. The present study describes ex vivo fracture experiments toquantitatively assess the effect of aging on the fracture toughnessproperties of human cortical bone in the longitudinal direction. Becausecortical bone exhibits rising crack-growth resistance with crackextension, unlike most previous studies, the toughness is evaluated interms of resistance-curve (R-curve) behavior, measured for bone takenfrom wide range of age groups (34-99 years). Using this approach, boththe ex vivo crack-initiation and crack-growth toughness are determinedand are found to deteriorate with age; the initiation toughness decreasessome 40 percent over 6 decades from 40 to 100 years, while the growthtoughness is effectively eliminated over the same age range. Thereduction in crack-growth toughness is considered to be associatedprimarily with a degradation in the degree of extrinsic toughening, inparticular, involving crack bridging in the wake of thecrack.
- Research Organization:
- Ernest Orlando Lawrence Berkeley NationalLaboratory, Berkeley, CA (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Director, Office of Science. Office of Basic EnergySciences. Materials Science and Engineering Division; National Institutesof Health
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231
- OSTI ID:
- 882151
- Report Number(s):
- LBNL--54758; BnR: 400412000
- Journal Information:
- Bone, Journal Name: Bone Journal Issue: 6 Vol. 35
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Effect of aging on the toughness of human cortical bone:Evaluation by R-curves
Effect of Aging on the Toughness of Human Cortical Bone: Evaluation by R-Curves