ISSN:
1573-4803
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
Notes:
Abstract Bovine pericardium, treated with glutaraldehyde, is used in the construction of heart valve substitutes. This study examines the mechanical properties of this tissue by using a continuum physics approximation of the material. A consideration of the relative magnitudes of the characteristic deformation time of a heart valve leaflet and the measured relaxation time of the tissue suggests that it can be effectively represented by a non-linear elastic solid. A compressible isotropic strain energy function is used to characterize the homogeneous deformation of the tissue when it is subjected to uniaxial load. The initial elastic material which is characterized by only two elastic constants, undergoes a transition to a second elastic material which is governed by a strain energy function of different magnitude by the same functional form as that associated with the initial elastic solid. This model is used to investigate the pericardial sac-to-sac and within-sac directional variation of the response to load in the unstrained state. Analysis of variance shows that glutaraldehyde treated pericardium possesses no preferred directional strength properties in the unstrained state. Any observed differences in the mechanical properties of different test specimens can be attributed to random biological variation alone.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00555905
