Material properties of sheep trabecular bone determined by nanomechanical testing

How the material properties of trabecular bone relate to its bulk mechanical behavior is not well understood. Multiple trabeculae in four cubic samples harvested from the distal femora of sheep were evaluated using a nanoindentation testing device. The average modulus and hardness was 20.2/spl plusmn/4.0 GPa and 1.1/spl plusmn/0.4 GPa, respectively. These values were consistent across surface region, specimen, and feature, thereby exhibiting a very homogenous quality at this level. The source of the highly anisotropic trabecular continuum, therefore, does not directly derive from its material properties.