Longitudinal variation in mechanical competence of bone along the avian humerus.

Vickers microhardness tests were used to gauge the mechanical "competence" (ability to resist bending and failure) of cortical and trabecular bone along the humeri of three bird species. Hardness was greatest at the mid-length portion of the shaft. The mean hardness of trabeculae, where present, was between 78.7 and 90.9% of that of the adjacent cortical bone. The possible causes of this are briefly discussed. Microhardness tests offer the opportunity to gauge differences in mechanical properties over small distances and might usefully be applied to test the homogeneity of mechanical properties within specimens for tensile or compressive tests.