Characterisation of mechanical behaviour of demineralised and deproteinised trabecular bone samples

Nineteen (n=19) bovine trabecular bone samples were scanned before chemical treatment by using Skyscan at high resolution (17.22 µm). The chemical treatment was to either demineralise or deproteinise the samples. Thirteen (n=13) trabecular bone cylindrical samples were successfully demineralised. The mechanical tests included fully reversed cyclic loading experiment (n=5) to investigate bone’s asymmetric mechanical behaviour in tension and compression. Tests were also conducted to evaluate the timedependent behaviour of demineralised trabecular bone through tensile multiple-load-creep-unload-recovery (MLCUR) experiments (n=8). The original uCT, undertaken before chemical treatment, bone volume ratio (BV/TV) of samples for fully reversed cyclic experiment was found to be in the range of 21% - 32%; and BV/TV for MLCUR experiment samples were found in the range of 16% - 38%. Other six (n=6) trabecular bone cylindrical samples were deproteinised and subjected to monotonic loading. The bone volume ratio range from 22% to 32%. The detailed experiment methodologies can be found in related thesis chapter and/or cited journal papers.