Mechanical properties of polyvinyl alcohol sponge under different strain rates

Abstract

Abstract Polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) is a suitable material for biomedical and pharmaceutical applications. This paper presents a scientific study on the stiffness, strength, and energy absorption characteristics of a fabricated PVA sponge under different strain rates with a view to using it as an alternative biodegradable and biocompatible material. A range of tensile tests, such as stress failure and cyclic, on PVA sponge have been carried out. The stress–strain curves in all strain rates (1, 20, 100 mm min−1) indicated a near constant plateau stress over a long strain range, which is ideal for energy absorption applications. It was found that the PVA sponge biomaterial exhibited remarkable stiffness, strength, and energy absorption capacities that are comparable to those of some biomaterials with the same density range. PVA sponge can also bear suitable stress both at low and high strain rates which enables it to be implemented in most tissue engineering scaffolds.