Fracture behavior of a composite of bone and calcium sulfate/hydroxyapatite

Calcium sulfate/hydroxyapatite (CaS/HA) biomaterials have been investigated for use in several orthopedic applications. However, the mechanical interactions between the composite of CaS/HA and bone at the microscale are still unknown. The aim of this study was to determine if and how augmentation with CaS/HA alters the fracture behavior of bone. Eleven cylinders of trabecular bone were drilled from human femoral heads and cleaned from bone marrow. Among them, five cylinders were injected with CaS/HA to generate composite specimens, while the others were kept intact. One extra specimen of pure CaS/HA was prepared. All specimens were compressed in situ using synchrotron X-ray tomography and imaged at ∼2% strain intervals. Structural properties were calculated from the images in unloaded state and mechanical properties were determined from the load-curves. CaS/HA alone displayed the highest peak force and stiffness and the lowest strain at fracture. All composite specimens had a higher peak force than the pure bone specimens and the composite specimens had higher toughness than the pure CaS/HA specimen. Furthermore, the fracture behavior was analyzed further to characterize the local deformations. The pure bone specimens presented damage in multiple trabeculae and the CaS/HA specimen displayed sharp transition in strains, with low strain in one load step and large cracks in the next. The composite specimens deformed uniformly, with the CaS/HA preventing tissue damage and the bone preventing cracks in the CaS/HA from propagating through the specimen. In conclusion, using tomography with in situ loading, it was possible to show how CaS/HA can help prevent bone tissue damage before global failure.