Elastic modulus of hard tissues

• Published in: Journal of biomechanics Vol. 45; no. 4; pp. 672 - 678
• Main Authors: Bar-On, Benny, Daniel Wagner, H
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Kidlington Elsevier Ltd 23.02.2012; Elsevier; Elsevier Limited
• Subjects: Analytical biochemistry: general aspects, technics, instrumentation; Analytical, structural and metabolic biochemistry; Animals; Arrays; Bio-composites; Bio-mechanics; Biological and medical sciences; Collagen; Collagens; Dentin; Elastic Modulus; Finite Element Analysis; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Hierarchies; Humans; Mathematical analysis; Mathematical models; Models, Biological; Modulus of elasticity; Mouth. Exocrine and endocrine salivary glands. Teeth. Esophagus; Nano-composites; Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; Staggered structures; Vertebrates: digestive system; Staggered structures; Nano-composites; Bio-composites; Bio-mechanics; Dentin; Elastic modulus; Glycoprotein; Mechanical properties; Modeling; Biomechanics; Collagen; Animal protein; Nanocomposite; Tooth; Elastic properties; Biomedical engineering
• ISSN: 0021-9290; 1873-2380
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jbiomech.2011.12.003

Abstract This work aims at evaluating the elastic modulus of hard biological tissues by considering their staggered platelet micro-structure. An analytical expression for the effective modulus along the stagger direction is formulated using three non-dimensional structural variables. Structures with a single staggered hierarchy (e.g. collagen fibril) are first studied and predictions are compared with the experimental results and finite element simulations from the literature. A more complicated configuration, such as an array of fibrils, is analyzed next. Finally, a mechanical model is proposed for tooth dentin, in which variations in the multi-scale structural hierarchy are shown to significantly affect the macroscopic mechanical properties.