Studies of fibrin film. I. Stress relaxation and birefringence.

Abstract

AbstractMeasurements of stress relaxation in uniaxial extension and associated time‐dependent birefringence have been made on bovine fibrin film, prepared by gentle compaction of coarse fibrin clots, containing 13–22% fibrin plasticized with either aqueous buffer or glycerol. Both unligated and ligated (i.e., with α‐α and γ‐γ ligation by fibrinoligase, factor XIIIa) films were studied. Both types showed two stages of stress relaxation, with time scales of approximately 10 and 103–104 s, respectively, with a plateau region between. In the plateau, the nominal (engineering) stress for ligated glycerol‐plasticized film is proportional to In λ, where λ is the stretch ratio, up to λ ≅ 2, and it decreases with increasing temperature. For unligated glycerol‐plasticized film, the stresses are smaller by a factor of one‐half to one‐third. For ligated film, the second stage of relaxation is relatively slight, and recovery after release of stress is often nearly complete. For unligated film, the second stage involves a substantial drop in stress, and after recovery there is a significant permanent set. A second relaxation for ligated film reproduces the first, but for unligated film it reproduces the first only if the initial relaxation is terminated before the second stage; otherwise, the second relaxation shows a weaker structure. The behavior of water‐plasticized film is similar to that of glycerol‐plasticized except that the second stage of relaxation occurs at shorter times. During the first stage of stress relaxation, up to about 100 s, the birefringence and the stress‐optical coefficient increase; during the plateau zone of stress relaxation, the birefringence of ligated films is approximately constant and is proportional to 2λ2/(λ2 + 1) − 1, where λ is the stretch ratio. This dependence is predicted by a two‐dimensional model in which rodlike elements in the plane of the film are oriented with independent alignment. During the final stage of stress relaxation, the birefringence of ligated films decreases slightly; that of unligated films decreases substantially, but less rapidly than the stress, corresponding to a further increase in the stress‐optical coefficient. With additional information from small‐angle x‐ray scattering reported in an accompanying paper, the first stage of relaxation is attributed to partial release of bending forces in the fibers by orientation, accompanied by increased birefringence. The second stage is attributed, for ligated films, to an internal transition in the fibrin units accompanied by elongation of some of the fibers; and in the unligated films, to a combination of the latter transition with slippage of protofibrils lengthwise within the fiber bundles that causes some loss of orientation, which diminishes the birefringence.