Mechanical characteristics of an Ormocomp (R) biocompatible hybrid photopolymer

In this work, the mechanical behaviour of a photocured Ormocomp (R) hybrid material is investigated. Its biocompatible nature has attracted a growing interest for microfabrication applications in biomedicine and tissue engineering. Measurements of in situ solidification strain development and achieved degree of curing, as obtained using a fibre optic sensor, are presented. The results show that the solidification strains generated during UV-curing are significant at the maximum achieved degree of curing. The mechanical response (Young's modulus) of the material was investigated by testing of thin-film and regular size specimens. It was found that the measured mean elastic modulus of the thin-film specimens was of the same order of magnitude as that of the larger specimens but noticeably smaller. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.