Open Access

ARTICLE

Structural Arrangement Effects of Mineral Platelets on the Nature of Stress Distribution in Bio-Composites

by S. Anup¹, S. M. Sivakumar², G. K. Suraishkumar³

1 Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600036, India.
2 Department of Applied Mechanics, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600036, India.
3 Department of Biotechnology, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai-600036, India.

Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences 2007, 18(2), 145-154. https://doi.org/10.3970/cmes.2007.018.145

Abstract

Bone is a hierarchical bio-composite, and has a staggered arrangement of soft protein molecules interspaced with hard mineral platelets at the fine ultrastructure level. The investigation into reasons for high fracture toughness of bio-composites such as bone requires consideration of properties at the different levels of hierarchy. In this work, the analysis is done at the continuum level, but the properties used are appropriate to that of the level considered. In this way, the properties at the fine ultrastructure level of bone is considered in the stress distribution analysis of a platelet adjacent to the broken platelet. Results show the influence of overlapping in determining the nature of stress distribution. This could play an important part in the fracture toughness of bio-composites.

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Keywords

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