Measuring elastic properties of extremely thin films used in tissue engineering
Prateek Verma / 15 June 2011
Engineering artificial tissue often involves use of very thin membrane-like films that are bio-friendly. For the artificial tissue to work, the membrane should match the functions and the strength of the real thing. But how do you measure the strength of small, very thin films? Thinner than human hair! Not by pulling them. Christopher Stafford proposed an incredible method to measure elastic properties of thin polymer films in his paper. However, tissue engineering nowadays uses a lot of polymer-blend (emphasis on blend) films which are not so easily characterized using Stafford's method. We used his method on PCL/PLA films, and were probably amongst the first to use this method on blend systems. Both simple and complicated buckle patterns were found on films, seemingly dependent on the solvent used in film formation, the film thickness, and of course, the polymers involved.
Last updated on June 01, 2023
This work was done in full or part at University of Akron.