Competing mechanisms in fracture of staggered mineralized collagen fibril arrays

Mineralized collagen fibril (MCF) arrays are important structural elements involved in inelastic deformation and fracture process of bone. Recent experiments have shown that MCF breakage has an influence on toughening of bone. Motivated by the experiments, we carry out the analyses of fracture in staggered MCF arrays. The plastic deformation of extrafibrillar matrix (EFM), debonding of the MCF-EFM interface, plastic deformation of MCFs and MCF fracture are accounted for in the calculations. It is found that the fracture of MCF arrays is controlled by competition between MCF breakage and debonding of the MCF-EFM interface. The MCF-EFM interface with high shear strength and large shear fracture energy is capable of activating MCF breakage, which promotes plastic energy dissipation of MCF arrays. In the absence of MCF breakage, damage energy dissipation is higher than plastic energy dissipation and debonding of the MCF-EFM interface provides the major contribution to toughening of bone. We have further revealed that the relative contributions of interfacial debonding mechanism and plastic deformation of MCF arrays are dependent on fracture properties of the MCF-EFM interface in the normal direction. The high normal strength gives rise to enhanced damage energy dissipation and amplified plastic deformation of MCF arrays; while high normal fracture energy of the interface suppresses plastic deformation of MCFs.