Measurement of electrostriction in bone using digital image correlation

The electromechanical properties of bone may play roles in the growth of bone tissue. The electrostriction effect of bone, which is one of the electromechanical properties of bone, was investigated using the digital image correlation technique (DIC). The advantage of using DIC is that the light beam used for the displacement measurement does not interfere with the electric field exerted on the bone specimen. To measure the bending deflections of a bone cantilever in an electric field, the displacement of the free end surface of the cantilever was measured using the image correlation technique. The experimental results show that the bending direction of the bone cantilevers is independent of the electric field direction and that the bending deflections are proportional to the square of the applied voltages. The attractive force between the charges on the electrode and the unlike charges in the specimen can be equivalent to a uniform distribution load regardless of the thickness of the bone specimen.