The rheological behaviour of cortical bone and cartilage of Bos taurus. The importance of maximal damping capacity in collagen.

The relaxation behaviour of bone and cartilage was investigated with a free-oscillating torsional pendulum. Two relaxations (260 K, and 150 K) were found for bone an; two (at 260 K and 210 K) for cartilage at a frequency of 1 Hz. The translations were the same as those known for collagen. The translation at 260 K is consistent with the frequency of the impulses causing the contraction of skeleton muscles when extrapolated to 37 centrigrades and a frequency of 500 Hz.