Near-terminal creep damage does not substantially influence fatigue life under physiological loading.

Abstract

Cortical bone specimens were damaged using repeated blocks of tensile creep loading until a near-terminal amount of creep damage was generated (corresponding to a reduction in elastic modulus of 15%). One group of cortical bone specimens was submitted to the near-terminal damage protocol and subsequently underwent fatigue loading in tension with a maximum strain of 2000 με (Damage Fatigue, n=5). A second group was submitted to cyclic fatigue loading but was not pre-damaged (Control Fatigue, n=5). All but one specimen (a damaged specimen) reached run-out (10 million cycles, 7.7 days). No significant differences in microscopic cracks or other tissue damage were observed between the two groups or between either group and additional, completely unloaded specimens. Our results suggest that damage in cortical bone allograft that is not obvious or associated with a stress riser may not substantially affect its fatigue life under physiologic loading.