The shock response and suitability of Synbone® as a tissue simulant

Abstract

The applicability of various materials as human tissue analogues has been a topic of increasing interest in recent years. It allows for more cost-effective experiments to be carried out, but also avoids ethical issues that would arise from using real human tissue. Synbone®, a porous polyurethane material, is commonly used in ballistic experiments as a bone simulant, but until now has not been characterised in terms of its dynamic behaviour. Here, the Hugoniot equation-of-state (EOS) for Synbone® has been derived via a series of plate-impact experiments; highlighting the importance of the underlying material structure in terms of material collapse under high strain-rates. A compaction model was also used for a more extensive analysis of Synbone® and for further comparison of this material to solid polyurethane. This work – following on from previous in-house studies of other tissue analogues – has provided useful data for future simulation of this material. In addition, comparison to dynamic data for other...