Journal
POLYMER TESTING
Volume 60, Issue -, Pages 117-123Publisher
ELSEVIER SCI LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.polymertesting.2017.03.018
Keywords
Silicone-based elastomers; Biomedical applications; Tearing energy; Long term cyclic behavior; Cytotoxicity
Funding
- Stiftung PROPTER HOMINES - Vaduz/Furstentum Liechtenstein
- Schwyzer-Winiker Stiftung
- ETH Zurich Foundation
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This paper provides results from a comprehensive experimental characterization on five silicone-based elastomers used as substrates for mechanobiological studies or in soft biomedical implants. A previous paper was recently published which focused on the large strain deformation behavior of these materials. This second part analyzes their reliability for biomedical applications in terms of changes of deformation behavior with the history of loading (long term cyclic behavior), ability to resist loads in the presence of defects (fracture properties), and cytotoxicity. For the latter, all materials are confirmed to be non-toxic which is a prerequisite for their use in mechanobiological studies or as part of implants and biomedical devices. The response in long term uniaxial tests over 220'000 cycles was characterized and the results indicate general stability of the mechanical response with, for some conditions, softening mechanisms active mainly in the initial phase of the test (50'000 cycles). A critical aspect of elastomer performance and their suitability for application in biomedical devices concerns their fracture properties. The tearing energy varies in a range from brittle (with approximately 80 J/m(2) for PDMS Sylgard 184) to tough (with approximately 900 J/m(2) for SMI G/G 0.020). (C) 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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