Standardized tensile testing of soft tissue using a 3D printed clamping system

Scholze, M.; Safavi, S.; Li, K. C.; Ondruschka, B.; Werner, M.; Zwirner, J.; Hammer, N.

doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ohx.2020.e00159

Standardized tensile testing of soft tissue using a 3D printed clamping system (bibtex)

by M. Scholze, S. Safavi, K. C. Li, B. Ondruschka, M. Werner, J. Zwirner, N. Hammer

Abstract:

Biomechanical testing of soft tissues forms the backbone in the experimental validation of tissue engineering and for modelling purposes. The standardized testing of soft tissues requires different experimental protocols and fixtures compared to hard tissues or non-biological materials due to their characteristics. Some of the most commonly-used clamping methods for soft tissue testing affect the tissues’ mechanical properties as chemicals are involved to decelerate degradation and autolysis. Moreover, they are unsuitable for standardized and high-throughput testing. Material slippage is also a recurrent unwanted influence on the testing routine with impact on measurement validity. Addressing these issues, this protocol presents a clamping system for simplified testing of biological soft tissues with all necessary components manufactured utilizing 3D printing technology. Templates allow trimming the samples into standardized shapes and sizes while preparation tables facilitate clamping in a fixed distance. The key parts of the system are clamps with a pyramid design, which allow the mounting of biological soft tissues before transferring it into the testing device and minimize material slippage during tensile testing. Flexible holder arms are used to transfer samples from preparation tables into the testing device and simplify positioning. Mechanical testing itself is performed with digital image correlation for precise strain measurements.

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Reference:

Scholze, M., Safavi, S., Li, K. C., Ondruschka, B., Werner, M., Zwirner, J., Hammer, N.: Standardized tensile testing of soft tissue using a 3D printed clamping system, HardwareX 8, e00159, 2020.

Bibtex Entry:

@Article{Scholze2020a,
  author   = {Scholze, M. and Safavi, S. and Li, K. C. and Ondruschka, B. and Werner, M. and Zwirner, J. and Hammer, N.},
  journal  = {HardwareX},
  title    = {Standardized tensile testing of soft tissue using a 3D printed clamping system},
  year     = {2020},
  issn     = {2468-0672},
  pages    = {e00159},
  volume   = {8},
  abstract = {Biomechanical testing of soft tissues forms the backbone in the experimental validation of tissue engineering and for modelling purposes. The standardized testing of soft tissues requires different experimental protocols and fixtures compared to hard tissues or non-biological materials due to their characteristics. Some of the most commonly-used clamping methods for soft tissue testing affect the tissues’ mechanical properties as chemicals are involved to decelerate degradation and autolysis. Moreover, they are unsuitable for standardized and high-throughput testing. Material slippage is also a recurrent unwanted influence on the testing routine with impact on measurement validity. Addressing these issues, this protocol presents a clamping system for simplified testing of biological soft tissues with all necessary components manufactured utilizing 3D printing technology. Templates allow trimming the samples into standardized shapes and sizes while preparation tables facilitate clamping in a fixed distance. The key parts of the system are clamps with a pyramid design, which allow the mounting of biological soft tissues before transferring it into the testing device and minimize material slippage during tensile testing. Flexible holder arms are used to transfer samples from preparation tables into the testing device and simplify positioning. Mechanical testing itself is performed with digital image correlation for precise strain measurements.},
  doi      = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ohx.2020.e00159},
  keywords = {3D printing, Biomechanical testing, Clamps, Soft tissues, Tensile testing},
  url      = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468067220300687},
}