MechanicalTestingSystemCoupledwithanEnvironmental.pptVIP

Mechanical Testing System Coupled with an Environmental Chamber for Hydrogels Team: Charlie Haggart, Gabriel J. Martínez-Díaz, Darcée Nelson, and Michael Piché Client: Weiyuan John Kao, Ph.D. Advisor: Paul Thompson BME 402 Midsemester Presentation 3/7/03 Overview Problem Statement Background Information Previous Work Current Progress Future Work Acknowledgements Problem Statement To design and build an environmental chamber to be used with a mechanical testing system to observe the tensile and creep properties of hydrogels under varying physiological conditions Background Information Hydrogels Cross-linked polymeric structures Can absorb water or biological fluids Properties change with pH and temperature Applications include drug delivery vessels and wound/burn care Design Specifications Mechanical properties of hydrogels must be characterized in physiological conditions (pH = 4-8 and 37 °C) Interested in tensile and creep properties to understand the behavior of hydrogels in varying conditions Previous Work: Tensile Testing Environmental chamber was built to be used with Instron 1000 Previous Work: Creep Testing Instron 1000 incapable of creep testing No other commercially available devices exist Creep chamber was built last semester Present Work: Tensile Testing Conducted tensile testing with environmental chamber and Instron 1000 Environmental chamber met specifications (maintained physiological conditions, compatible with Instron 1000) Present Work: Tensile Testing Instron 1000 not sensitive enough to measure tensile properties of hydrogels tested System may be used for future testing Different materials (i.e. rat skin) Present Work: Creep Testing Problem Grips were difficult to adjust Solution New grips were ordered from McMaster-Carr Present Work: Creep Testing Problem Chamber too small to fit hands into, making sample adjustment difficult Solution Modified tensile chamber, in order to be used for tensile AND creep tests Present Work: Creep Tes