Tony
Such data as I have for bending of the African elephant tusk (dentine) is
three specimens only
All in bending
Young's (GPa) Bending strength (MPa)
8.9 127
6.8 104
7.4 114
All specimens tested wet in three-point bending, suitably shallow. These
results are what I would expect from the general mass of data that I have for
various 'bony' tissues. It is for dentine, and other values I have for
dentine are in the same ball park, so I would expect hippo ivory to be not
too dissimilar
John Currey
"A. G. Atkins" wrote:
> I have had an enquiry from an Egyptologist about an arefact made of a
> slice of hippopotamus tusk on which there are hieroglyphs of various gods
> and goddesses to do with childbirth.
>
> It seems that the artefact might have been loaded in 3-point bending and
> the question is 'what load would have broken it?'
>
> Does anyone have any information about strength/toughness...of
> hippopotamus tusk(called 'ivory').Indeed what's known about elephant
> ivory?George Jeronimidis has pointed out to me that although tusks are
> teeth,there's no hard coating as on 'normal' teeth,which is why the
> material can be carved into billiard balls and so on.
>
> Be glad to hear from you all out there!
>
> Tony Atkins
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