Mechanical Properties of Cancellous Bone and Its Dependency of the Trabecular Structure

Abstract

The elasticity of cancellous bone constituting the proximal of the femur is considered to be influenced by the degree of trabecular bone orientation and the bone volume fraction. For the purpose of quantifying this influence, the degree of orientation and the distribution of the volume fraction of trabeculae were measured by means of an image analysis.
The elasticity and its anisotropy of cancellous bone were also measured by loading tests using small cubic bone specimens. Then, the extent of influence of each factor was examined experimentally. As the result, the following equation was proposed in order to express the elasticity of cancellous bone.
E=E₀^*·V^α*·exp(-b^*·P)
where V is the degree of orientation, P(=1-V_f) is the porosity and α, b and are constants.