A study of the fracture thresholds of toe bone under impact loading

Abstract

In this study, to investigate the thresholds of toe bone fracture, we conducted an impact test on porcine trotter and developed several risk curves to evaluate the probabilities of the bone fracture. The test was conducted using a drop-weight impact test device under impact velocity of 1.7 m/s to 2.6 m/s on 37 test specimens. An AE (Acoustic Emission) sensor attached to the metacarpal bone was used to investigate the time of fracture. Statistical analysis was performed to determine the relationships between fracture occurrence and load, energy, as well as impulse. The values of load, energy, and impulse at 50% probability might be considered as the thresholds of fracture. Comparison to previous studies shows that the fracture loads under impact velocity of up to approximately 3.0 m/s were found to be similar.