Abstract
Collagenous tissues can, inevitably, be damaged and broken by overload, but they are also susceptible to the prolonged application of a lesser load. The majority of studies are for bone with tendon in the second place. This chapter therefore concentrates on these tissues. Test variables which can effect the time-to-rupture include the applied stress, the frequency and the temperature. A knowledge of the stresses which arise in life helps to put the results of in vitro tests into perspective.
The concepts and quantities used to characterize the fracture and fatigue behavior of materials are based on an understanding of the initiation and propagation of cracks. These concepts and quantities were first applied to metals, but their use has been extended to other materials, including, among collagenous tissues, bone and dentin. However, the anisotropy and inhomogeneity of these tissue mean that caution must be used in assessing the results. Tendons are far more strikingly anisotropic and the standard techniques of Fracture Mechanics for studying crack propagation are not appropriate.
The fatigue behavior of tendon and bone illustrates the idea that load-bearing biological structures are built to be only just adequate for their function. “Just adequate” includes allowance for routine repair of non-symptomatic damage. This balance of damage and repair seems to be part of the control mechanism by which biological tissues are maintained by their cells in a viable state throughout life.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Anderson TL (2005) Fracture mechanics: fundamentals and applications. 3rd ed. Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton.
Bellucci G, Seedhom BB (2001) Mechanical behaviour of articular cartilage under tensile cyclic load. Rheumatology 40:1337–1345
Bertram JEA, Gosline JM (1986) Fracture toughness design in horse hoof keratin. J Exp Biol 125:29–47
Bonfield W, Datta PK (1976) Fracture toughness of compact bone. J Biomech 9:131–134
Caler WE, Carter DR (1989) Bone creep-fatigue damage accumulation. J Biomech 22:625–635
Carter DR, Caler WE (1983) Cycle-dependent and time-dependent bone fracture with repeated loading. J Biomech Eng 105:166–170
Carter DR, Caler WE (1985) A cumulative damage model for bone fracture. J Orthop Res 3:84–90
Carter DR, Hayes WC (1976) Fatigue life of compact bone. I. Effects of stress amplitude, temperature and density. J Biomech 9:27–34
Currey JD (2002) Bones: structure and mechanics. 2^nd ed. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Currey JD (2004) Tensile yield in compact bone is determined by strain, post-yield behaviour by mineral content. J Biomech 37:549–556
Davison PF (1989) The contribution of labile crosslinks to the tensile behaviour of tendons. Conn Tissue Res 18:293–305
Deakin AH (2006) The mechanical and morphological properties of normal and rheumatoid human forearm tendons. PhD thesis, The University of Strathclyde
Eppell SJ, Smith BN, Kahn H, Ballarini R (2006) Nano measurement with micro-devices: mechanical properties of hydrated collagen fibrils. J R Soc Interface 3:117–121
Evans FG, Lebow M (1957) Strength of human compact bone under repetitive loading. J App Physiol 10:127–130
Grashow JS, Sacks MS, Liao J, Yoganathan AP (2006) Planar biaxial creep and stress relaxation of the mitral valve anterior leaflet. Annals Biomed Eng 34:1509–1518
Griffith AA (1921) The phenomena of rupture and flow in solids. Philos Trans R Soc A 221:163–191
Irwin GR (1956) Onset of fast crack propagation in high strength steel and aluminium alloys. In Proceedings of the second Sagamore Conference, Syracuse University, New York, 2:289–305
Irwin GR (1957) Analysis of stresses and strains near the end of a crack traversing a plane. J App Mech 24:361–364
Ker RF (2007) Mechanics of tendon, from an engineering perspective. Int J Fatigue 29:1001–1009
Ker RF, Zioupos P (1997) Creep and fatigue damage of mammalian tendon and bone. Comments Theor Biol 4:151–181
Ker RF, Alexander RMcN, Bennett MB (1988) Why are tendons so thick? J Zool Lond. 216: 309–324
Ker RF, Wang XT, Pike AVL (2000) Fatigue quality of mammalian tendons. J Exp Biol 203:1317–1327
Klompen ETJ, Engels TAP, Van Breeman LCA, Schreurs PJG, Govaert LE, Meijer HEH (2005) Quantitative prediction of long-term failure of polycarbonate. Macromolecules 38:7009–7017
Kruzic JJ, Ritchie RO (2008) Fatigue of mineralized tissues: cortical bone and dentin. J Mech Biomed Mat 1:3–17
Mach KJ, Nelson DV, Denny MW (2007a) Techniques for predicting the lifetimes of wave-swept macroalgae: a primer on fracture mechanics and crack growth. J Exp Biol 210:2213–2230
Mach KJ, Hale BB, Denny MW, Nelson DV (2007b) Death by small forces: a fracture and fatigue analysis of wave-swept macroalgae. J Exp Biol 210:2231–2243
Martin B (1995) Mathematical model for repair of fatigue damage and stress fracture in osteonal bone. J Orthop Res 13:209–316.
Nalla RK, Imbeni V, Kinney JH, Staninec M, Marshall SJ, Ritchie RO (2003) In vitro fatigue behaviour of human dentin with implications for life prediction. J Biomed Mat Res Part A 66A:10–20
Nalla RK, Kruzic JJ, Kinney JH, Ritchie RO (2005) Aspects of in vitro fatigue in cortical bone: time and cycle dependent crack growth. Biomaterials 26:2183–2195
Nalla RK, Kruzic JJ, Kinney JH, Balooch M, Ager JW, Ritchie RO (2006) Role of microstructure in the aging-related deterioration of the toughness of human cortical bone. Mat Sci Eng C 26:1251–1260
Norman TL, Vashishth D, Burr DB (1995) Fracture toughness of human bone under tension. J Biomech 28: 309–329
Paris PC, Gomez, MP, Anderson WP (1961) A rational analytic theory of fatigue. Trends Eng 13: 9–14
Pike AVL, Ker RF, Alexander RMcN (2000) The development of fatigue quality in high- and low-stressed tendons of sheep (Ovis Aries). J Exp Biol 203:2187–2193
Prendergast PJ, Taylor D (1994) Prediction of bone adaptation using damage accumulation. J Biomech 27:1067–1076
Rice JR (1968) A path independent integral and the approximate analysis of strain concentrations by notches and cracks. J App Mech 35: 379–386
Reilly DT, Burstein AH (1975) The elastic and ultimate properties of compact bone tissue. J Biomech 8:393–405.
Rimnac CM, Petko AA, Santner TJ, Wright TM (1993) The effect of temperature, stress and microstructure on the creep of compact bone. J Biomech 26:219–228
Ritchie RO, Kinney JH, Kruzic JJ, Nalla RK (2005) A fracture mechanics and mechanistic approach to the failure of cortical bone. Fatigue Fract Engng Mater Struct 28:345–371
Schechtman H, Bader DL (1997) In vitro fatigue of human tendons. J Biomech 30:829–835
Schwab TD, Johnston CR, Oxland TR, Thornton GM (2007) Continuum damage mechanics (CDM) modelling demonstrates that ligament fatigue damage accumulates by different mechanisms than creep damage. J Biomech 40:3279–3284
Sedman AJ (1993) Mechanical failure of bone and antler: the accumulation of damage. D.Phil thesis, University of York.
Shelton DR, Martin RB, Stover SM, Gibeling JC (2003) Transverse crack propagation behaviour in equine cortical bone. J Mat Sci 38:3501–3508
Stella JA, Liao J, Sacks MS (2007) Time-dependent biaxial mechanical behaviour of the aortic valve leaflet. J Biomech 40:3169–3177
Suresh (1998) Fatigue of Materials. 2^nd edit. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Taylor D, Hazenberg JG, Lee TC (2003a) A cellular transducer in damage-staimulated bone remodelling: a theoretical investigation. J Theor Biol 225;65–75
Taylor D, O’Reilly P, Valet L, Lee TC (2003b) Fatigue strength of compact bone in torsion. J Biomech 36:1103–1109
Taylor D, Hazenberg JG, Lee TC (2007) Living with cacks: damage and repair in human bone. Nat Mater 6:263–268
Teoh SH, Cherry BW (1984) Creep rupture of a linear polythene. I. Rupture and pre-rupture phenomena. Polymer 25:727–734
Thorton GM, Schwab TD, Oxland TR (2007) Fatigue is more damaging than creep revealed by modulus reduction and residual strength. Ann Biomed Eng 35:1713–1721
Vashishth D (2004) Rising crack-growth-resistance behaviour in cortical bone: implications for toughness measurements. J Biomech 37:943–946
Vashishth D (2007) Hierarchy of bone microdamage at multiple length scales. Int J Fatigue 29:1024–1033
Wang XT, Ker RF (1995) The creep rupture of wallaby tail tendons. J Exp Biol 198:831–845
Wang XT, Ker RF, Alexander, RMcN (1995) Fatigue rupture of wallaby tail tendons. J Exp Biol 198:847–852
Wells SM, Sellaro T, Sacks MS (2005) Cyclic loading response of bioprosthetic heart valves: effects of fixation state on the collagen fiber architecture. Biomaterials 26:2611–2619
Winwood, K, Zioupos P, Currey JD, Cotton JR, Taylor M (2006) Strain patterns during tensile, compressive and shear fatigue of human cortical bone and implications for bone biomechanics. J Biomed Mat 79A:289–297
Wren TAL, Lindsey DP, Beaupré GS (2003) Effects of creep and cyclic loading on the mechanical properties and failure of human Achilles tendon. Ann Biomed Eng 31:710–717
Wright TM, Hayes WC (1976) The fracture mechanics of fatigue crack propagation in compact cortical bone. J Biomed Mat Res 10:637–648
Yan J, Mecholsky JJ, Clifton KB (2007) How tough is bone? Applciation of elastic-plastic fracture mechanics to bone. Bone 40:279–484
Zioupos P, Wang XT, Currey, JD (1996) Experimental and theoretical quantification of the development of damage in fatigue tests of bone and antler. J Biomech 29:989–1002
Zioupos P, Currey, JD (1998) Changes in the stiffness, strength and toughness of human cortical bone with age. Bone 33:57–66.
Zioupos P, Currey JD, Casinos A (2001) Tensile fatigue in bone: are cycles-, or time to failure, or both, important? J Theor Biol 210: 389–399
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2008 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Ker, R. (2008). Damage and Fatigue. In: Fratzl, P. (eds) Collagen. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73906-9_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-73906-9_5
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-73905-2
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-73906-9
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)