Tear resistance of soft collagenous tissues
Loading...
Author / Producer
Date
2019-02-15
Publication Type
Journal Article
ETH Bibliography
yes
Citations
Altmetric
Data
Rights / License
Abstract
Fracture toughness characterizes the ability of a material to maintain a certain level of strength despite the presence of a macroscopic crack. Understanding this tolerance for defects in soft collagenous tissues (SCT) has high relevance for assessing the risks of fracture after cutting, perforation or suturing. Here we investigate the peculiar toughening mechanisms of SCT through dedicated experiments and multi-scale simulations, showing that classical concepts of fracture mechanics are inadequate to quantify and explain the high defect tolerance of these materials. Our results demonstrate that SCT strength is only modestly reduced by defects as large as several millimeters. This defect tolerance is achieved despite a very narrow process zone at the crack tip and even for a network of brittle fibrils. The fracture mechanics concept of tearing energy fails in predicting failure at such defects, and its magnitude is shown to depend on the chemical potential of the liquid environment.
Permanent link
Publication status
published
External links
Editor
Book title
Journal / series
Volume
10
Pages / Article No.
792
Publisher
Nature
Event
Edition / version
Methods
Software
Geographic location
Date collected
Date created
Subject
Organisational unit
03605 - Mazza, Edoardo / Mazza, Edoardo
Notes
Funding
155918 - Mechanical biocompatibility of electrospun scaffolds for intervertebral disc repair (SNF)
Related publications and datasets
Is referenced by: 10.1038/s41467-019-10560-y