Abstract
Bone is often regarded as a composite material consisting of mineral particles, organic matrix and water phases in microscopic scale. The mechanical properties of bone at macroscopic scale depend on the structural organization and properties of constituents in the microscopic scale. Raman spectroscopy is known to be useful tool for the analysis of material at ultra-structural level. In this study, bovine cortical bone specimens were analyzed by Raman spectroscopy to examine the mechanical response of constituents in the microscopic level by using the Raman microscopy in combination with micro-tensile loading device. As the results, the structural information of both mineral and organic phases of bone tissue could be detected by Raman spectroscopy. The Raman shift of mineral crystal to lower wave numbers was observed with increase of tensile strain. Therefore it was confirmed that this method is sufficiently useful to evaluate the stress state related to microscopic response of constituents in bone tissue.
