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Fiber-reinforced Hydogels for Soft Tissue Replacement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

Animesh Agrawal  and
Paul Calvert
Animesh Agrawal
Affiliation:
g_aagrawal@umassd.edu, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, Materials and Textiles, North dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States
Paul Calvert
Affiliation:
g_aagrawal@umassd.edu, University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth, Materials and Textiles, North dartmouth, Massachusetts, United States
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Abstract

Synthetic hydrogels have poor mechanical properties that limit their use in load bearing applications. In contrast, biological hydrogels are tough and strong due to reinforcement with nano to micron size fibers. Our work is focused on designing new class of hydrogel assemblies based on fiber reinforced hydrogel composites. In analogy to the spinning of a spider web, a pultrusion system was developed to spin micron-diameter polymer fibers from solution in order to build predefined three dimensional patterned fiber-reinforced hydrogel structures. The gel chemistry is based on epoxy-amine crosslinking. We have formulated various epoxy-amine gels with swellability ranges from 0% to 1000% in water. The fibrous reinforcement affects the swelling and mechanical properties of the gel. For mechanical characterization flat punch probe indentation technique was performed. The effect of fiber density and extent of swelling on the reinforcement of epoxy matrix is investigated. Based on a better understanding of fiber reinforcement of gels, we hope to be able to design strong gels for biomedical devices and soft machines.

Keywords

compositebiomimetic (assembly)toughness
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1234: Symposium QQ – Responsive Gels and Biopolymer Assemblies , 2009 , 1234-QQ10-04
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2010

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