Tm. Keaveny et al., DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE TENSILE AND COMPRESSIVE STRENGTHS OF BOVINE TIBIAL TRABECULAR BONE DEPEND ON MODULUS, Journal of biomechanics, 27(9), 1994, pp. 1137-1146
The conflicting conclusions regarding the relationship between the ten
sile and compressive strengths of trabecular bone remain unexplained.
To help resolve this issue, we compared measurements of the tensile (n
= 22) and compressive (n = 22) yield strengths, and yield strains, of
trabecular bone specimens taken from 38 bovine proximal tibiae. We al
so studied how these failure properties depended on modulus and appare
nt density. To enhance accuracy, trabecular orientation was controlled
, and each specimen had a reduced section where strains were measured
with a miniature extensometer. We found that the mean yield strength w
as 30% lower for tensile loading. However, the difference between indi
vidual values of the tensile and compressive strengths increased linea
rly with increasing modulus and density, being negligible for low modu
li, but substantial for high moduli. By contrast, both the tensile and
compressive yield strains were independent of modulus and density, wi
th the yield strain being 30% lower for tensile loading. Thus, the dif
ference between the tensile and compressive strengths of bovine tibial
trabecular bone depends on the modulus, but the difference between yi
eld strains does not. This phenomenon may explain in part that conflic
ting conclusions reached previously on the tensile and compressive str
engths of trabecular bone since the mean modulus has varied among diff
erent studies. Realizing that our data pertain only directly to bovine
tibial trabecular bone for longitudinal loading, our results neverthe
less suggest that failure parameters based on strains may provide more
powerful and general comparisons of the failure properties for trabec
ular bone than measures based on stresses.