ABSTRACT
The mechanical properties of bone obey Newton’s and Hook’s laws of mechanics. The mechanical behavior of bone in normal physiological situations is similar to that of an elastic material. Mechanical testing of bone is involved in most bone-related animal studies. The dense nature of cortical bone determines its strong and stiff mechanical properties compared to cancellous bone. The mechanical properties of cortical bone depends on the type of mechanical testing. A bending test commonly is used for measuring mechanical properties of cortical bones. A compression test is commonly used for testing mechanical properties of cancellous and cortical bones. Indentation tests have also been used for testing the mechanical properties of fracture callus. Torsional tests are often used for testing mechanical properties of whole long bones such as the tibia or femur of dogs, rabbits, or rat. Two special tensile tests have been reported for testing the bond strength at a bone-HA interface and a bone-cement interface.
