Technique for estimating fracture resistance of cultured neocartilage

Tensile tests on an artificial tissue of cultured neocartilage are describe d with a view to obtaining objective criteria for the onset of fracture and to estimating the tissue fracture resistance. The energy dissipation and c ompliance of the hyperelastic, hysteretic load-displacement responses exhib it great sensitivity to crack propagation during loading. A simple scheme i s presented for deconvoluting the energy dissipated by cracking from an ove rall hysteresis loop and thus estimating the fracture resistance. The resul ts suggest that the apparent fracture resistance of cultured neocartilage i s determined by events localized to the crack and may exhibit a transient i ncrease on initial crack extension. (C) 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers.