Strain rate sensitivity of skin tissue under thermomechanical loading

Abstract

There have been limited studies addressing the thermally dependent mechanical properties of skin tissue, although this can contribute to a variety of medical applications. To address this, an experimental study on the tensile behaviour of pig skin tissue under different thermal loading conditions and different mechanical stretching rates was performed. The results indicate that there is a significant variation among skin tensile behaviours under different temperatures and loading rates, which is correlated with dermal collagen denaturation. The Ogden model was used to summarize the effect of the strain rate and the temperature upon the measured constitutive response through two parameters (alpha and mu). These results can be used in future models to improve clinical thermal treatments for skin tissue.