Constitutive relationships for osteonal microcracking in human cortical bone using statistical mechanics

The post-elastic mechanical behavior of cortical bone, which is represented by extensive microcracking once the elastic regime is exceeded, has been characterized by a nonlinear constitutive relationship for osteonal microcracking. The relationship/model is based on the formalism of Statistical Mechanics, allowing the degree of irreversibility to be calculated using the increase in entropy associated with the progression of microcracking. Specific tensile and bending tests were conducted to compare theoretical predictions of constitutive relationships to empirical curves. In addition, the tests were utilized to determine the model’s parameters, whose values were used to explicitly calculate the entropy increase. A large sample was used: 51 cortical bone coupons (dog-bone-shaped specimens) were extracted from the 4th ribs of numerous individuals and subjected to uniaxial tensile testing. Additionally, fifteen complete 4th ribs were used for bending tests. Displacement and strain fields were measured for both types of tests using digital image correlation or video recordings of the tests. All experimental specimen data were successfully fitted to the model, and all constitutive parameter values were found to be correlated with anthropometric variables. Explicit entropy calculations indicate that microcracking is minimal for low strain and, initially, stress is nearly proportional to strain. After a certain point, significant microcracking occurs, and the relationship between stress and strain becomes invalid. Several significant associations between constitutive parameters and age have also been identified.