Shear Strain Stiffening in Cartilage is Governed by a Mechanical Phase Transition
- 1Department of Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA
Abstract
Large shear deformation in cartilage can lead to tissue failure and injury, which are often precursors to diseases such as post-traumatic osteoarthritis. Under shear, cartilage strain-stiffens prior to failure, which makes stiffening an important indicator of changes to the loading of the extracellular matrix that gives rise to this tissue's properties. While a variety of stiffening mechanisms ranging from uncrimping to fiber-alignment have been explored, whether such mechanisms apply to the depth dependent shear strain stiffening in articular cartilage remains poorly understood. Here, we present experiments and theory that support the idea that the strain-stiffening behavior is caused by a mechanical phase transition from a random isotropic network whose mechanics arise primarily from bending-dominated modes to one where the mechanics arise from stretching-dominated modes. Indeed, consistent with network model predictions, we find that stress-strain data for all depths can be collapsed onto a single universal curve that diverges at a depth-dependent critical strain. These results show that increasing the local concentration of collagen, which constitutes the primary load-bearing network in cartilage, decreases the critical strain at which the strain-stiffening transition occurs, while increasing the low-strain elastic modulus. Furthermore, we demonstrate that bulk compression leads to a higher critical strain and decreased low-strain elastic modulus. Network simulations capture this rich behavior, and indicate that under compression the network collapses, which allows for larger strains before the transition from bending-dominated to stretching-dominated mechanics occurs. Collectively, these findings shed light on the roles that tissue composition and axial strain play in the mechanisms that organize how articular cartilage stiffens during the lead-up to injury.
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BibTeX
@misc{omonira2026shear,
title = {{Shear Strain Stiffening in Cartilage is Governed by a Mechanical Phase Transition}},
author = {J. Omonira and J. D. Clugston and A. R. Barth and S. J. Thornton and B. Chakraborty and J. P. Sethna and M. Das and L. J. Bonassar and I. Cohen},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.28.751808},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.751808v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Shear Strain Stiffening in Cartilage is Governed by a Mechanical Phase Transition
AU - J. Omonira
AU - J. D. Clugston
AU - A. R. Barth
AU - S. J. Thornton
AU - B. Chakraborty
AU - J. P. Sethna
AU - M. Das
AU - L. J. Bonassar
AU - I. Cohen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/28
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.28.751808
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.28.751808v1
AB - Large shear deformation in cartilage can lead to tissue failure and injury, which are often precursors to diseases such as post-traumatic osteoarthritis. Under shear, cartilage strain-stiffens prior to failure, which makes stiffening an important indicator of changes to the loading of the extracellular matrix that gives rise to this tissue's properties. While a variety of stiffening mechanisms ranging from uncrimping to fiber-alignment have been explored, whether such mechanisms apply to the depth dependent shear strain stiffening in articular cartilage remains poorly understood. Here, we present experiments and theory that support the idea that the strain-stiffening behavior is caused by a mechanical phase transition from a random isotropic network whose mechanics arise primarily from bending-dominated modes to one where the mechanics arise from stretching-dominated modes. Indeed, consistent with network model predictions, we find that stress-strain data for all depths can be collapsed onto a single universal curve that diverges at a depth-dependent critical strain. These results show that increasing the local concentration of collagen, which constitutes the primary load-bearing network in cartilage, decreases the critical strain at which the strain-stiffening transition occurs, while increasing the low-strain elastic modulus. Furthermore, we demonstrate that bulk compression leads to a higher critical strain and decreased low-strain elastic modulus. Network simulations capture this rich behavior, and indicate that under compression the network collapses, which allows for larger strains before the transition from bending-dominated to stretching-dominated mechanics occurs. Collectively, these findings shed light on the roles that tissue composition and axial strain play in the mechanisms that organize how articular cartilage stiffens during the lead-up to injury.
ER -