INTRODUCTION Bone quality is largely dependent on the toughness of the tissue since age-related degradation in toughness makes bone more susceptible to fracture [1]. The observed decrease in bone toughness with age is mainly due to significant decreases in the capacity of the tissue to dissipate energy during the post-yield deformation [2]. Thus, understanding the post-yield behavior of bone is...

Understanding the role played by the microstructure of materials on their macroscopic failure properties is an important challenge in solid mechanics. Indeed, when a crack propagates at a heterogeneous brittle interface, the front is trapped by tougher regions and deforms. This pinning induces non-linearities in the crack propagation problem, even within Linear Elastic Fracture Mechanics theory...

In nature, tiny amounts of inorganic impurities, such as metals, are incorporated in the protein structures of some biomaterials and lead to unusual mechanical properties of those materials. A desire to produce these biomimicking new materials has stimulated materials scientists, and diverse approaches have been attempted. In contrast, research to improve the mechanical properties of biomateria...

OBJECTIVES There remains conflicting evidence regarding cortical bone strength following bisphosphonate therapy. As part of a study to assess the effects of bisphosphonate treatment on the healing of rat tibial fractures, the mechanical properties and radiological density of the uninjured contralateral tibia was assessed. METHODS Skeletally mature aged rats were used. A total of 14 rats recei...

Characterized by their low modulus and high stretchability, soft composites have recently attracted great interest from researchers in related areas. The main objective of the present study is on the fracture property and toughening mechanism of soft composites. Two types of soft composites will be studied: soft elastic foam and the double-network (DN) composite. A theoretical/numerical study i...

The present study was carried out to investigate the effect of alloying elements and thermo-mechanical treatment (TMT) i.e. hot rolling and forging with different reduction ratios on the hardness (HV) and impact toughness (J) of heat-treated low alloy steels. An understanding of the combined effect of TMT and alloying elements and by measuring hardness, impact toughness, resulting from differen...

Despite its rising prominence in the academic literature, the underlying inputs, processes and outputs of mental toughness remain relatively unexplored (Hardy, Bell, & Beattie, 2014). As such, the purpose of the study is to present a systems-approach model of mental toughness that classifies attributes of mental toughness within the aggregated system of inputs, processes and outputs. To this en...

An attempt has been made to determine the strength and impact properties of Cr-Mo steel weld and base materials by varying the current during manual metal arc welding. Toughness over a temperature range from -32 to 100°C of base, heat affected zone (HAZ) and weld zones at three current settings are made. It is observed that the deterioration in notch toughness at any zone with the temperature d...

We propose a versatile approach to computing the effective toughness of heterogeneous media. This approach focusses on the material property independent of the details of the boundary condition. The key idea is what we call a surfing boundary condition, where a steadily propagating crack opening displacement is applied as a boundary condition to a large domain while the crack set is allowed to ...

The Charpy energy of the sample after heat–treatment was significantly higher than the as–welded sample when the V–notches were located 1 or 3 mm away from FL. However, when the V–notch was located on FL, the improvement in toughness from the heat treatment was not so obvious with no enhancement noted for the test temperature of −40 ◦C. Under this condition, the facets of the fracture surface a...