Cancellous Bone Simulating Material

[Gedanken666]

Hi all,

I'm looking for a material to simulate cancellous bone (the type found in osteoporotic patients). The material itself has some ductility, it is very porous and it tends to break as a brittle material beyond a certain strain. Obviously I'm looking for something that is much more available than bones, and hopefully easier to craft into a desired shape.

I tried to work with plaster, but everything I tried was far too rigid and not ductile at all.

Are there any ideas as to such a material?
I'm posting this in the composite materials forum thiking that trying to get something that is both ductile and brittle to some extent, I'll need a composite material. Any other ideas will also be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance,
G

 

[1gibson]

Coral with some resin?

 

[Compositepro]

The main feature you need to duplicate is the cellular structure. Resin or plaster need many air bubbles. The easiest way to do this is to mix air into the materials, but creating a stable foam is tricky and may require much experimentation. Glass micro balloons are available from hobby shops. Bondo contains micro balloons to make it easier to sand, and might work for you.

 

[1gibson]

Syntactic foam, there is some information available for use as synthetic bone, if you google it.

 

[Gedanken666]

Thank you very very much for the help!
I have to say both ideas sound amazing - corals are very interesting and after spending several hours looking into it I think it is a very viable solution for me. I have never worked with microballoons/syntactic foam before, but it seems like a very interesting direction.
I will try both and post the results.

Thank you again!

G