ABSTRACT

The specific topics of elasticity and viscoelasticity of compact or cortical bone have been featured in a variety of more comprehensive reviews of the mechanical properties of bone. This chapter considers the overall implications of selected data with respect to a current definition and understanding of elastic and viscoelastic deformation of bone. It demonstrates that the incorporation of a viscoelastic component into the model represents a desirable next step in understanding. There have been a number of contributions to an interpretation of the Young’s modulus of bone in terms of its major microstructural constituents, namely hydroxyapatite and collagen. The original qualitative concept that bone could be considered as a composite of hydroxyapatite-reinforced collagen was suggested by Currey. The Young’s modulus of bone also depends on the strain rate of the test, an effect originally demonstrated in a convincing manner, for the longitudinal orientation in compression, by McElhaney.