Abstract
In this work, an in-house designed table top loading device equipped with a bioreactor is used for the in-situ compression of a spongious sample in simulated physiological conditions. On-the-fly 4D computed tomography is used as a tool for the advanced volumetric analysis of the deforming microstructure of the specimen. The loading device with the bioreactor was placed directly onto the rotational stage of a modular X-ray scanner. As the loading device is equipped with a slip-ring cable system, it can perform an unlimited number of revolutions during the on-the-fly scanning procedure. A complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor flat panel detector with a fast readout was used for the acquisition of the X-ray images. The specimen was compressed with a low loading velocity. A set of the volumetric data capturing the deformation of the specimen during the experiment was prepared from the images acquired by the detector. A digital volume correlation algorithm was used for the evaluation of the volumetric strain fields in the specimen.