School of Engineering, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne, Victoria, 3001, Australia.
School of Engineering, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476, Melbourne, Victoria, 3001, Australia.
J Mech Behav Biomed Mater. 2022 Dec;136:105424. doi: 10.1016/j.jmbbm.2022.105424. Epub 2022 Aug 23.
Silicone elastomers are widely recognised as artificial skins for medical prosthesis and cranial injury assessment. Since silicone is not an ideal skin simulant due to the lack of mechanical stiffness and a fibrous structure, the present study aimed to tailor the mechanical and structural characteristics of silicone by integrating biocompatible reinforcements (namely, short polyethylene fibres and bioglass particles) to develop suitable bio-integrative skin simulant candidates. The influences of short polyethylene fibres and bioglass particles in the selected platinum silicone on the mechanical properties of silicone-based composite skin simulants were investigated with various factors, including filler concentration, KMnO surface treatment of the polyethylene fibre, and particle size. A comprehensive assessment of the tensile, compressive, and hardness properties of the examined composites was conducted, and they were compared with the properties of human biological skin. The results exhibited that the elastic moduli and the hardness of all composites increased with the concentration of both reinforcements. While integrating only the bioglass particles had the advantage of an insignificant effect on the hardness change of the silicone matrix, the composite with polyethylene fibres possessed superior tensile elastic modulus and tensile strength compared to those of the bioglass reinforced composite. The composites with 5% untreated polyethylene fibres, KMnO surface-treated fibres, and bioglass reinforcements enhanced the tensile elastic moduli from the pure silicone up to 32%, 44%, and 22%, respectively. It reflected that the surface treatment of the fibres promotes better interfacial adhesion between the silicone matrix and the fibres. Moreover, the smaller bioglass particle had a greater mechanical contribution than the larger glass particle. Systematically characterised for the first time, the developed composite skin simulants demonstrated essential mechanical properties within the range of the human skin and constituted better skin alternatives than pure silicone for various biomedical applications.
硅橡胶弹性体被广泛认为是医学假体和颅骨损伤评估的人造皮肤。由于硅橡胶缺乏机械刚度和纤维结构，因此不是理想的皮肤模拟材料。本研究旨在通过整合生物相容性增强材料（即短聚乙烯纤维和生物玻璃颗粒）来调整硅橡胶的机械和结构特性，以开发合适的生物整合皮肤模拟候选材料。本研究选用铂硅橡胶，研究了短聚乙烯纤维和生物玻璃颗粒对硅橡胶基复合皮肤模拟材料力学性能的影响，考察了填充剂浓度、聚乙烯纤维的 KMnO4 表面处理和颗粒尺寸等多种因素。对所研究复合材料的拉伸、压缩和硬度性能进行了全面评估，并与人体生物皮肤的性能进行了比较。结果表明，所有复合材料的弹性模量和硬度均随增强剂浓度的增加而增加。虽然仅整合生物玻璃颗粒对硅橡胶基体硬度变化的影响不大，但与生物玻璃增强复合材料相比，含有聚乙烯纤维的复合材料具有更高的拉伸弹性模量和拉伸强度。5%未处理的聚乙烯纤维、KMnO4 表面处理纤维和生物玻璃增强复合材料使纯硅橡胶的拉伸弹性模量分别提高了 32%、44%和 22%。这表明纤维的表面处理促进了硅橡胶基体与纤维之间更好的界面附着力。此外，较小的生物玻璃颗粒比较大的玻璃颗粒具有更大的机械贡献。首次对开发的复合皮肤模拟材料进行了系统表征，其力学性能在人体皮肤范围内，比纯硅橡胶更适合各种生物医学应用。
