A tough soft-hard interface in the human knee joint driven by multiscale toughening mechanisms.

ABSTRACT: Joining heterogeneous materials in engineered structures remains a significant challenge due to stress concentration at interfaces, which often leads to unexpected failures. Investigating the complex, multiscale-graded structures found in animal tissue provides valuable insights that can help address this challenge. The human meniscus root-bone interface is an exemplary model, renowned for its exceptional fatigue resistance, toughness, and interfacial adhesion properties throughout its lifespan. Here, we investigated the multiscale graded mineralization structure and their strengthening mechanisms within the 30-micron soft-hard interface at the root-bone junction. This graded interface, featuring interdigitated structures and an exponential increase in modulus, undergoes a phase transition

SUBMITTER: Li W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11789015 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature