Development of a biomechanical model of deer antler cancellous bone based on X-ray microtomographic images

Finite element models accurately compute the mechanical response of bone and bone-like materials when the models include their detailed microstructure. The aim of this paper is to develop and validate a biomechanical model for deer antler cancellous bone tissue based on X-ray microtomographic images. In order to simulate the mechanical behavior under compressive load using a finite element model, images obtained by X-ray microtomography were exported into Metafor, which is an non-linear finite element software initially developed at University of Liège for metal forming processes. This software has recently found biomedical applications. The ultimate goal is to compare model predictions with the mechanical behavior observed experimentally using the Skyscan material testing stage under compression mode. The creation of the biomechanical model mesh from segmented μCT images, its integration into the software Metafor and the simulation of a compression test are described in this paper.