In vitro fracture testing of submicron diameter collagen fibril specimens

Shen, Zhilei Liu; Dodge, Mohammad Reza; Kahn, Harold; Ballarini, Roberto; Eppell, Steven J.

Affiliations

¹Department of Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

²Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio

³Department of Civil Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Abstract and keywords

Mechanical testing of collagenous tissues at different length scales will provide improved understanding of the mechanical behavior of structures such as skin, tendon, and bone, and also guide the development of multiscale mechanical models. Using a microelectromechanical-systems (MEMS) platform, stress-strain response curves up to failure of type I collagen fibril specimens isolated from the dermis of sea cucumbers were obtained in vitro. A majority of the fibril specimens showed brittle fracture. Some displayed linear behavior up to failure, while others displayed some nonlinearity. The fibril specimens showed an elastic modulus of 470 5 410 MPa, a fracture strength of 230 5 160 MPa, and a fracture strain of 80% 5 44%. The fibril specimens displayed significantly lower elastic modulus in vitro than previously measured in air. Fracture strength/strain obtained in vitro and in air are both significantly larger than those obtained in vacuo, indicating that the difference arises from the lack of intrafibrillar water molecules produced by vacuum drying. Furthermore, fracture strength/strain of fibril specimens were different from those reported for collagenous tissues of higher hierarchical levels, indicating the importance of obtaining these properties at the fibrillar level for multiscale modeling.

Keywords:

Links

DOI: 10.1016/j.bpj.2010.07.021

PubMed: 20858445

PubMedCentral: PMC2941005

WoS: 000282197500037

History

Received: 2010-03-30

Accepted: 2010-07-16

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Cited By (6)

Year	Entry
2011	Shen ZL, Kahn H, Ballarini R, Eppell SJ. Viscoelastic properties of isolated collagen fibrils. Biophys J. June 22, 2011;100(12):3008-3015.
2010	Shen ZL. Tensile Mechanical Properties of Isolated Collagen Fibrils Obtained by Microelectromechanical Systems Technology [PhD thesis]. Cleveland, OH: Case Western Reserve University; August 2010.
2012	Hamed E. Multiscale Modeling of Elastic Moduli and Strength of Bone [PhD thesis]. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; 2012.
2015	Szczesny SE. Analysis of the Contribution of Interfibrillar Sliding on Tendon Fascicle Multiscale Mechanics [PhD thesis]. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania; 2015.
2022	Lin AH. Multiscale Characterization of Tendon Failure [PhD thesis]. University of Utah; August 2022.
2012	Liu Y. The Mechanics of Bimaterial Attachment At the Tendon-to-Bone Insertion Site [PhD thesis]. St. Louis, MO: Washington University in St. Louis; May 2012.