Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Compressive failure of hydrogel spheres

  • Biomedical Materials, Regenerative Medicine and Drug Delivery
  • Invited Feature Paper
  • Published:
Journal of Materials Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Hydrogels have gained recent attention for biomedical applications because of their large water content, which imparts biocompatibility. However, their mechanical properties can be limiting. There has been significant recent interest in the strength and fracture toughness of hydrogel materials in addition to their stiffness and time-dependent behavior. Hydrogels can fail in a brittle manner, although they are extremely compliant. In this work, the failure and fracture of hydrogels are examined using a compression test of spherical hydrogel particles. Spheres of commercially available polyacrylamide–potassium polyacrylate were hydrated and tested to failure in compression as a function of loading rate. The spheres exhibited little relaxation when compressed to small fixed displacements. The distributions of strength values obtained were examined in a particle fracture framework previously used for brittle ceramics. There was loading rate dependence apparent in the measured peak force and calculated peak strength values, but the data fell on a single empirical distribution function of strength for the hydrogels regardless of loading rate. Strength values for these hydrogels were mostly in the range of 0.05–0.3 MPa, illustrating the challenges using hydrogels for mechanically demanding applications such as tissue engineering.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. J.L. Drury and D.J. Mooney: Hydrogels for tissue engineering: Scaffold design variables and applications. Biomaterials 24, 4337 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. A.M.S. Costa and J.F. Mano: Extremely strong and tough hydrogels as prospective candidates for tissue repair—A review. Eur. Polym. J. 72, 344 (2015).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. J. Li, E. Weber, S. Guth-Gundel, M. Schuleit, A. Kuttler, C. Halleux, N. Accart, A. Doelemeyer, A. Basler, B. Tigani, K. Wuersch, M. Fornaro, M. Kneissel, A. Stafford, B.R. Freedman, and D.J. Mooney: Tough composite hydrogels with high loading and local release of biological drugs. Adv. Healthcare Mater. 7, 1701393 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. T.R. Hoare and D.S. Kohane: Hydrogels in drug delivery: Progress and challenges. Polymer 49, 1993 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. K. Varaprasad, G.M. Raghavendra, T. Jayaramudu, M.M. Yallapu, and R. Sadiku: A mini review on hydrogels classification and recent developments in miscellaneous applications. Mater. Sci. Eng., C 79, 958 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. M.L. Oyen: Mechanical characterization of hydrogel materials. Int. Mater. Rev. 59, 44 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. J.P. Gong: Why are double network hydrogels so tough? Soft Matter 6, 2583 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. J-Y. Sun, X. Zhao, W.R. Illeperuma, O. Chaudhuri, K.H. Oh, D.J. Mooney, J.J. Vlassak, and Z. Suo: Highly stretchable and tough hydrogels. Nature 489, 133–136 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. F-m. Cheng, H-x. Chen, and H-d. Li: Recent advances in tough and self-healing nanocomposite hydrogels for shape morphing and soft actuators. Eur. Polym. J. 124, 109448 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. K. Tonsomboon and M.L. Oyen: Composite electrospun gelatin fiber-alginate gel scaffolds for mechanically robust tissue engineered cornea. J. Mech. Behav. Biomed. Mater. 21, 185 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. A.L. Butcher, G.S. Offeddu, and M.L. Oyen: Nanofibrous hydrogel composites as mechanically robust tissue engineering scaffolds. Trends Biotechnol. 32, 564 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. G.S. Offeddu, I. Mela, P. Jeggle, R.M. Henderson, S.K. Smoukov, and M.L. Oyen: Cartilage-like electrostatic stiffening of responsive cryogel scaffolds. Sci. Rep. 7, 42948 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Y. Xiao, D.A. Rennerfeldt, E.A. Friis, S.H. Gehrke, and M.S. Detamore: Evaluation of apparent fracture toughness of articular cartilage and hydrogels. J. Tissue Eng. Regener. Med. 11, 121 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. K. Tonsomboon, C-T. Koh, and M. Oyen: Time-dependent fracture toughness of cornea. J. Mech. Behav. Biomed. Mater. 34, 116 (2014).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. C. Creton and M. Ciccotti: Fracture and adhesion of soft materials: A review. Rep. Prog. Phys. 79, 046601 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. K. Tonsomboon, A.L. Butcher, and M.L. Oyen: Strong and tough nanofibrous hydrogel composites based on biomimetic principles. Mater. Sci. Eng., C 72, 220 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. R.S. Rivlin and A.G. Thomas: Rupture of rubber. I. Characteristic energy for tearing. J. Polym. Sci. 10, 291 (1953).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. M.V. Chin-Purcell and J.L. Lewis: Fracture of articular cartilage. J. Biomech. Eng. 118, 545 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. P.P. Purslow: Positional variations in fracture toughness, stiffness, and strength of descending thoracic pig aorta. J. Biomech. 16, 947 (1983).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. J.C. Jaeger: Failure of rocks under tensile conditions. Int. J. Rock Mech. Min. Sci. 4, 219 (1967).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. B.W. Darvell: Uniaxial compression tests and the validity of indirect tensile strength. J. Mater. Sci. 25, 757 (1990).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. T. Bertrand, J. Peixinho, S. Mukhopadhyay, and C.W. MacMinn: Dynamics of swelling and drying in a spherical gel. Phys. Rev. Appl. 6, 064010 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Y. Rozenblat, D. Portnikov, A. Levy, H. Kalman, S. Aman, and J. Tomas: Strength distribution of particles under compression. Powder Technol. 208, 215 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. K.L. Johnson: Contact Mechanics (Cambridge University Press, U.K., 1985).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  25. Y. Tatara, S. Shima, and J.C. Lucero: On compression of rubber elastic sphere over a large range of displacements—Part 1: Theoretical study. J. Eng. Mater. Technol. 113, 285 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Y. Tatara: On compression of rubber elastic sphere over a large range of displacements—Part 2: Comparison of theory and experiment. J. Eng. Mater. Technol. 113, 292 (1991).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Y. Tatara: Large deformations of a rubber sphere under diametrical compression (Part I: Theoretical analysis of press approach, contact radius, and lateral extension). JSME Int. J. Ser. A, Mech. material Eng. 36, 190 (1993).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. S. Shima, Y. Tatara, M. Iio, C. Shu, and J.C. Lucero: Large deformations of a rubber sphere under diametral compression (Part 2: Experiments on many rubber materials and comparisons of theories with experiments). JSME Int. J. Ser. A, Mech. material Eng. 36, 197 (1993).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  29. M.A. Verspui, G. de With, and E.C.A. Dekkers: A crusher for single particle testing. Rev. Sci. Instrum. 68, 1553 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  30. T. Chen, Q. Fang, Z. Wang, and W. Zhu: Numerical simulation of compression breakage of spherical particle. Chem. Eng. Sci. 173, 443 (2017).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  31. C. Yang, T. Yin, and Z. Suo: Polyacrylamide hydrogels I: Network imperfection. J. Mech. Phys. Solid. 131, 43 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. H.A. Abd El-Rehim, E.A. Hegazy, and H.L. Abd El-Mohdy: Effect of various environmental conditions on the swelling property of PAAm/PAAcK superabsorbent hydrogel prepared by ionizing radiation. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 101, 3955 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge the critical contributions of Dana Al Jalal and Leena Dakhaikh, students from IAU, Saudi Arabia, who were visiting researchers at ECU in the Summer 2019 and who helped with the experiments and data analysis. Funding was provided by the ECU Division of Research, Economic Development and Engagement (REDE) via start-up funds to MLO. JDJ was funded during part of this study via an REU studentship, Biomedical Engineering in Simulations, Imaging, and Modeling (BME-SIM), Award #1359183, from the National Science Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Engineering, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina, 27858, USA

    Jeremiah D. James, Jacob M. Ludwick, Mackenzie L. Wheeler & Michelle L. Oyen

Authors
  1. Jeremiah D. James
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Jacob M. Ludwick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mackenzie L. Wheeler
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Michelle L. Oyen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michelle L. Oyen.

Additional information

This paper has been selected as an Invited Feature Paper.

Supplementary Material

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

James, J.D., Ludwick, J.M., Wheeler, M.L. et al. Compressive failure of hydrogel spheres. Journal of Materials Research 35, 1227–1235 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2020.114

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2020.114

Search

Navigation