Cortical Bone Model With a Microcrack Under Tensile Loading

Abstract BackgroundBone is a biological material whose mechanical properties are outstanding. The fracture mechanics research of cortical bone is a major challenge to fully understand the complex behavior of biological composites and for the design of future bioinspired materials. MethodsIn order to characterize the fracture mechanics behavior of cortical bone, the plane problem for the cortical bone with a microcrack located in the interstitial tissue under tensile loading was considered. Using the solution for the continuously distributed edge dislocations as Green's functions, the problem was formulated. ResultsThe singular integral equations with Cauchy kernels were obtained. And the numerical results indicate that the stress intensity factor of the microcrack is dominated by the material constants and the geometric parameters of the cortical bone.ConclusionThe numerical results suggest that a soft osteon promotes the microcrack propagation while stiff one repels it, but this interaction effect is limited near the osteon. Some of the numerical results are in accordance with the results obtained and additional numerical results predicted need to be confirmed.