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Mechanical behaviour of a hydrogel film with embedded voids under the tensile load

  • Original Paper: Sol–gel and hybrid materials for biological and health (medical) applications
  • Published:
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Abstract

The behaviour of alginate gel film in response to the tensile load is analysed in this paper. The bubbles of 0.5 mm diameter were embedded in the film by the fluidic method prior to gelation, thus providing uniform voidage over the entire film. Further, the intrinsic porosity of the gel matrix around the voids was varied by removing water through either evaporation under vacuum, or employing lyophilisation. The Poisson’s ratio and the modulus of elasticity were estimated from direct measurements. The viscoelasticity of the gel matrix was characterized from stress-relaxation measurement. The transient response to tensile loading and the evolution of stress contours were studied through numerical simulation in ANSYS. The ultimate strength was studied for the gel films with embedded voids of different sizes. The numerical simulations were validated by experimental measurements.

Highlights

  • Alginate films with uniform macroporosity were fabricated.

  • The macroporosity was varied by controlling the introduction of bubbles.

  • The film’s microporosity was varied through a solvent removal mechanism.

  • Stress–strain behavior, image correlation, and stress-relaxation studies were reported.

  • Viscoelastic stress–strain behavior was explained through generalized Maxwell model.

  • The evolution of stress profiles around the voids was studied from simulation.

  • Predicted ultimate strength of the film was verified with the experimental data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721302, India

    Arindam Banerjee, Subhajit Patra & Somenath Ganguly

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  1. Arindam Banerjee
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  2. Subhajit Patra
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  3. Somenath Ganguly
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Correspondence to Somenath Ganguly.

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Banerjee, A., Patra, S. & Ganguly, S. Mechanical behaviour of a hydrogel film with embedded voids under the tensile load. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 87, 665–675 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-018-4776-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-018-4776-x

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