Elastic properties of woven bone: effect of mineral content and collagen fibrils orientation

Woven bone is a type of tissue that forms mainly during fracture healing or fetal bone development. Its microstructure can be modeled as a composite with a matrix of mineral (hydroxyapatite) and inclusions of collagen fibrils with a more or less random orientation. In the present study, its elastic properties were estimated as a function of composition (degree of mineralization) and fibril orientation. A self-consistent homogenization scheme considering randomness of inclusions' orientation was used for this purpose. Lacuno-canalicular porosity in the form of periodically distributed void inclusions was also considered. Assuming collagen fibrils to be uniformly oriented in all directions led to an isotropic tissue with a Young's modulus [Formula: see text] GPa, which is of the same order of magnitude as that of woven bone in fracture calluses. By contrast, assuming fibrils to have a preferential orientation resulted in a Young's modulus in the preferential direction of 9-16 GPa depending on the mineral content of the tissue. These results are consistent with experimental evidence for woven bone in foetuses, where collagen fibrils are aligned to a certain extent.