Development of a micro-indentation device for measuring the mechanical properties of soft materials  

作　　者：Xiang He Pengfei Wang Guoyou Huang Shaobao Liu Minglong Xu Feng Xu TianJian Lu 

机构地区：[1]Bioinspired Engineering and Biomechanics Center, Xi'an Jiaotong University [2]State Key Laboratory for Strength and Vibration of Mechanical Structures, School of Aerospace,Xi'an Jiaotong University [3]Key Laboratory of Biomedical Information Engineering of Education Ministry, Xi'an Jiaotong University

出　　处：《Theoretical & Applied Mechanics Letters》2013年第5期23-26,共4页力学快报（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National "111 Project" Foundation of China(B06024);the National Natural Science Foundation of China(11372243);"Zhi Gu" Innovation Program of Southern China;the Major InternationalJoint Research Program of China(11120101002);International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China(2013DFG02930);partially supported by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(NCET-12-0437)

摘　　要：Indentation is a simple and nondestructive method to measure the mechanical properties of soft materials, such as hydrogels, elastomers and soft tissues. In this work, we have developed a micro-indentation system with high-precision to measure the mechanical properties of soft materials, where the shear modulus and Poisson＇s ratio of the materials can be obtained by analyzing the load relaxation curve. We have validated the accuracy and stability of the system by comparing the measured mechanical properties of a polyethylene glycol sample with that obtained from a commercial instrument. The mechanical properties of another typical polydimethylsiloxane sample submerged in heptane are measured by using conical and spherical indenters, respectively. The measured values of shear modulus and Poisson＇s ratio are within a reasonable range.Indentation is a simple and nondestructive method to measure the mechanical properties of soft materials, such as hydrogels, elastomers and soft tissues. In this work, we have developed a micro-indentation system with high-precision to measure the mechanical properties of soft materials, where the shear modulus and Poisson＇s ratio of the materials can be obtained by analyzing the load relaxation curve. We have validated the accuracy and stability of the system by comparing the measured mechanical properties of a polyethylene glycol sample with that obtained from a commercial instrument. The mechanical properties of another typical polydimethylsiloxane sample submerged in heptane are measured by using conical and spherical indenters, respectively. The measured values of shear modulus and Poisson＇s ratio are within a reasonable range.

关 键 词：MICRO-INDENTATION soft materials relaxation curve mechanical properties 

分 类 号：TB302[一般工业技术—材料科学与工程]