Relationship between morphological parameters of cancellous bone and its mechanical properties

Relationship between osteoporosis and failure mechanism can be assessed through quantitative bone quality and clinical studies. Characterization and functional studies in this area is vital to identify patients at risk of bone fractures. Identification of elastic bone modulus can be done using several methods including mechanical testing and correlations between microarchitectural parameters. In this study, compressive testing was done until failure on bovine cancellous bone extracted from the neck of femur. A thorough experimental protocol was used for extraction and cleaning of cylindrical bone samples. Three cylindrical bovine cancellous bone specimens were obtained from the femoral cadaver for the experiment. The specimens have a diameter of 10 mm and a total length of 25 mm with an effective length for experiment of 15 mm. After extraction of the bone samples, the marrow was removed from the hard tissue by immersing in an ultrasound cleaner and then vacuumed. Results showed strong relationships between volume fraction and mechanical properties of cancellous bone. However, there is a weak relationship between the bulk density and the mechanical properties.