Mechanical Properties of Dried Defatted Spongy Bone

A study has been made of the compressive strength, compression at rupture, limit of proportionality, compression at the limit of proportionality and the modulus of elasticity of spongy bone from vertebrae and tibias. The specimens were obtained from autopsy subjects of both sexes aged 14 to 89 years. There was a qualitative deterioration of most of the strength parameters with age, and also differences between the sexes and between vertebrae and tibia. Spongy bone was found to have the unusual mechanical property that, despite rupture, its compressive strength often steadily increased; this was especially the case for vertebrae from young males.