Mechanical properties of bioactive glasses

Bioactive glasses have been studied for about 45 years and have been produced in many forms and ways with various targeted clinical applications. For this reason a wide range of different bioactive glass containing materials has been developed and studied over the years. This chapter focuses on the mechanical properties of bioactive glass containing materials. A material should have properties suitable for the intended application and be able to withstand the forces that it will be subjected to in the tissue of interest. To test the mechanical properties, different test setups can be used and various parameters can be specified. Comparison of the mechanical properties of bioactive glasses reported in the literature is therefore difficult and general conclusions are difficult to be drawn. This chapter aims to provide an overview of the most important aspects that should be considered for mechanical testing of bioactive glasses and how to interpret the results carefully.