Is there a relation between bone strength and percolation?
The thermal contraction temperature of collagen in partially demineralized bone was measured as a function of the volume fraction of the mineral phi m. Initially, the contraction temperature gradually increased with an increase in phi m and then rapidly increased in the vicinity of phi m = 0.17. The resisting force against the contraction stress caused by collagen, which corresponds to the compressive strength, was estimated from the thermal contraction temperature of partially demineralized bone. The phi m-dependence of the resisting force of partially demineralized bone was roughly explained in terms of the percolation theory which gives a good description of a sol-gel transition. This suggests that bone can be approximately regarded as a percolated structure of the mineral on a collagen matrix.
D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001842:Bone and Bones / Q000502:physiology*; D002417:Cattle; D008903:Minerals; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013696:Temperature
D008903:Minerals