Progressive post-yield behavior of human cortical bone in compression for middle-aged and elderly groups

In this study, a progressive loading regimen (load-dwell-unloading-dwell-reloading) was applied on bone samples to examine the compressive post-yield response of bone at increasing strain levels. Cortical bone specimens from human tibiae of two age groups (middle-aged group: 53+/-2 years, 4 females and 4 males, elderly group: 83+/-6 years, 4 females and 4 males) were loaded in compression using the progressive loading scheme. Modulus degradation, plastic deformation, viscous response, and energy dissipation of bone during post-yield deformation were assessed. Although initial modulus was not significantly different between the two age groups, the degradation of modulus with the applied strain in the elderly group was faster than in the middle-aged group. The modulus loss (or microdamage accumulation) of bone occurred prior to plastic deformation. Plastic strain had a similar linear relationship with the applied strain for both middle-aged and the elderly group although middle-aged bone yielded at a greater strain. The viscoelastic time constant changed similarly with increasing strain for the two groups, whereas a higher magnitude of stress relaxation was observed in the middle-aged group. Energy dissipation was investigated through three pathways: elastic release strain energy, hysteresis energy, and plastic strain energy. The middle-aged group had significantly greater capacity of energy dissipation than the elderly group in all three pathways. The information obtained may provide important insights in age-related effects on bone fragility.