Studies on Deformational Behavior of Miniaturized Cortical Bone Specimens using Finite Element Simulation.

Miniature specimen test technique provides a way of obtaining mechanical properties of components or structures while consuming an amount of material that is very small relative to that required for full-size conventional specimen. This technique is very helpful especially in the case of bone mechanics as bone properties are heterogeneous and anisotropic in nature and it is difficult to obtain standard size of specimen for mechanical testing. In the present study an effort is made to simulate punch specimen setup using mechanical properties of the cortical femur bone material for miniature specimen while considering its nature to be transversely isotropic. The samples were taken in both longitudinal as well as transverse direction. The various load displacement curves and contour profiles obtained for different thicknesses of the miniature specimen using finite element simulation were compared with each other. The values of load at breakaway point were obtained for different cases of miniature specimen. It is anticipated that these values can be further used to evaluate yield strength of the bone material in different cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]