| About this Abstract |
| Meeting |
Materials Science & Technology 2020
|
| Symposium
|
Next Generation Biomaterials
|
| Presentation Title |
Ultra-soft Hydrogel Mechanical Property Testing Device and Methodology |
| Author(s) |
Kazue Orikasa, Nicole Bacca, Arvind Agarwal |
| On-Site Speaker (Planned) |
Kazue Orikasa |
| Abstract Scope |
Recently, new ultra-soft materials such as hydrogels have led to advances in biomaterial development. Hydrogels are used as a scaffold material for tissue regeneration. It is essential to understand the mechanical properties of scaffolds as there is a correlation between their mechanical properties and the conditions for cell growth. Although there are methods available for measuring the mechanical properties of ultra-soft materials, they often require high specialization and sophisticated equipment. A simple device and methodology for ultra-soft material characterization are proposed. A 10 mm-diameter cylindrical flat indenter constructed from a stiff polymer was designed and attached to a table-top mechanical load frame. Indentation tests on natural soft materials with varying stiffness (e.g. high-fat yogurt, chicken breast, Aloe Vera) were conducted. A variation of the Johnson-Kendall-Roberts technique was applied to compute the stiffness values. The results suggest that novel device and methodology provide accurate values of compliant materials. |