Characterizing Puncture Behavior
Can we make digital synthetic tissue that behaves like the real thing?
I designed these test fixtures to gather data for a grant application with the Anschutz-Boulder Nexus fund meant to answer this question. We won the grant, which supported my research for the following year and led to a journal publication on mechanical characterization of multiphase composites realized with 3D printing.
The fixtures produce linear motion, either in a reciprocating or directly controlled manner, and measure loads reacted to the crosshead. This requires simple motion control and data streaming, which I accomplished using Arduino hardware, commodity motion components, and 3D printed components that I designed.
I was specifically interested in the force reacted to a needle as it passes through flesh. Reproducing this characteristic response is very challenging using synthetic materials! Our bodies are composed of soft, rigid, stretchy, and fluid components in multiscale complex geometries.
Using the data gathered from this fixture, I was able to design a 3D printed synthetic tissue which exhibits a strikingly similar force/displacement profile to lamb tissue (you can see the real tissue under test here)!