Incidence of Temperature and Indenter Diameter on the Mechanical Response of Skin during Indentation Test

The effect of skin tension, needle diameter and insertion velocity on the fracture properties of porcine tissue

Using metal needles to penetrate skin tissue is common in medical treatments for the delivery of medication or minimally invasive surgery. In most applications the fracture properties of skin tissue is not important as the human surgeon has full control over the needle. Given that robotically controlled surgeries and self applied medical devices have become increasingly popular, a better understanding of the fracture properties and how to mathematically model the fracture process is needed. Experiments measuring the force required to fracture porcine skin tissue were done while varying the applied skin tension, needle insertion speed and needle diameter. The applied skin tension was found to have the greatest influence on the fracture properties, while the insertion speed was found to have a negligible impact. The variance in experimental results was not well explained by the three independent variables alone, suggesting that additional parameters influence the fracture process.

Assessing composition and structure of soft biphasic media from Kelvin-Voigt fractional derivative model parameters

Kelvin-Voigt fractional derivative (KVFD) model parameters have been used to describe viscoelastic properties of soft tissues. However, translating model parameters into a concise set of intrinsic mechanical properties related to tissue composition and structure remains challenging. This paper begins by exploring these relationships using a biphasic emulsion materials with known composition. Mechanical properties are measured by analyzing data from two indentation techniques - ramp-stress relaxation and load-unload hysteresis tests. Material composition is predictably correlated with viscoelastic model parameters. Model parameters estimated from the tests reveal that elastic modulus E₀ closely approximates the shear modulus for pure gelatin. Fractional-order parameter α and time constant τ vary monotonically with the volume fraction of the material's fluid component. α characterizes medium fluidity and the rate of energy dissipation, and τ is a viscous time constant. Numerical simulations suggest that the viscous coefficient η is proportional to the energy lost during quasi-static force-displacement cycles, E_A . The slope of E_A versus η is determined by α and the applied indentation ramp time T_r. Experimental measurements from phantom and ex vivo liver data show close agreement with theoretical predictions of the η - E_A relation. The relative error is less than 20% for emulsions 22% for liver. We find that KVFD model parameters form a concise features space for biphasic medium characterization that described time-varying mechanical properties.