Material model of the collagen decrease in a single trabecula

摘要

Bone is often modeled as an isotropic material, even though it presents a high degree of anisotropy, due to the combination of collagen and hydroxiapatite at the nanoscale level. These two components considerably influence the overall mechanical behavior. Moreover, aging as well diseases influencing the collagen and hydroxyapatite content in bone can cause severe problems in terms of structure stability and fracture risks. According to these assumptions, our investigation is aimed at elucidating the effect collagen has on the elastic properties of bone material at the tissue level. In this sense, we provide a model which, using a numerical simulation software, lets us describe the collagen decrease in a single trabecula. This approach could allow further investigation of the correlation between stiffness reduction and collagen content decrease.