Tensile material properties of human tibia cortical bone effects of orientation and loading rate

The purpose of this study was to quantify effects of both specimen orientation and loading rate on the tensile material properties for human tibia cortical bone in a controlled study. This study presents 25 human tibia cortical bone coupon tests obtained from the mid-diaphysis of two fresh frozen male human cadavers: 11 axial and 14 lateral. The primary component for the tension coupon testing was a high rate servo-hydraulic Material Testing System (MTS) with a custom slack adaptor. The specimen were loaded at a constant strain rate of approximately 0.05 strains/s, 0.5 strains/s, or 5.0 strains/s. Axial specimens were found to have a significantly larger ultimate stress and ultimate strain compared to lateral specimens for all loading rates, and a significantly larger modulus for low and high loading rates. This finding illustrates the anisentropic behavior of bone over a range of strain rates, which is attributed to the microstructure of the bone and the osteon orientation along the long axis of the bone. With respect to loading rate, both axial and lateral specimens showed significant increases in the modulus and significant decreases in ultimate strain with increased loading rate. Although not significant, axial specimens showed another traditional viscoelastic trend, with ultimate stress increasing with increased loading rate.