Title: Experimental analysis on effect of type-2 diabetic mellitus on strength behaviour of trabecular bone structures

Authors: Swapnil Shankarrao Barekar; Tushar Ankush Jadhav; Navin Kumar

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sinhgad College of Engineering, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra – 411041, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sinhgad College of Engineering, Savitribai Phule Pune University, Pune, Maharashtra – 411041, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Bara Phool, Punjab – 140001, India

Abstract: The type-2 diabetes affected bones are more susceptible to fragile fractures due to the deterioration in bone mineral density (BMD). This study aims to investigate the structural integrity of human trabecular bone by comparing nanoindentation-based mechanical evaluation outcomes of three diabetic and two non-diabetic bone samples. The obtained results stated that a 45-year-old T2DM sample has lower modulus of elasticity (40.81%), toughness (34.24%) and diminished bone quality when compared to normal bones. Mechanical analysis shows that T2DM causes mean reductions of the elastic modulus by 5.3 GPa, stiffness to 4.9 μN/nm, and hardness by 0.27 GPa in bones. The reverse problem-solving method also effectively approximates yield stress, yielding results comparable to direct calculations that eliminate the requirement for another destructive testing. The findings also highlight the significance of multi-parametric analysis in fracture-risk assessment strategies, other than focusing only on bone mineral density for individuals with T2DM.

Keywords: trabecular bone; T2DM-induced bone-deterioration; AGEs accumulation; Berkovich indentation of trabeculae; elastic modulus; Dao's reverse solving approach; yield strength.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBET.2026.155803

International Journal of Biomedical Engineering and Technology, 2026 Vol.51 No.1, pp.18 - 37

Received: 01 Oct 2025
Accepted: 06 Jan 2026
Published online: 14 Aug 2026 *

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