Failure Processes in Cancellous Bone

Professor: Christopher Hernandez
Project Description:Bone is a hierarchical ceramic polymer composite biomaterial necessary for the proper function of the human body. Mechanical failure of whole bones can occur throughout life, often due to an overload such as a trauma, but also due to multiple loading cycles over time. We will concentrate on cancellous bone, a type of bone tissue that resembles an open cell foam. The goal of this project is to determine the ability of bone tissue to resist the initiation and propagation of microscopic cracks and other tissue damage. The student involved will examine mechanical failure processes in bone tissue using nano-scale imaging techniques, mechanical modeling and meso-scale experimental mechanics.