Measurements on cortical human, cortical bovine and simulated cortical bone

In order to accurately model the effects of medullary reaming, accurate values of the thermal properties and density of human cortical bone are required. Since bovine bones and artificial bone substitutes made from epoxy filled with short glass fibers are often used when human bones are not available these materials have to be tested as well. This paper discusses the various methods that can be used to determine these properties, the use of the transient plane source method and a gas pycnometer in order to determine these properties and the eventual results from these measurements.