Tear energy of elastomers for maxillofacial applications.

The energy necessary to generate a unit area of torn surfaces was measured for six elastomers with low moduli of elasticity. Four polyurethane materials and two commercial maxillofacial materials were included. The latter had tear energy values between 0.63 and 6.56 erg/cm2, while the polyurethanes ranged from 8.49 to 50.0 erg/cm2. Three of the materials demonstrated non-Hookian behaviour during testing, violating an assumption of the tear energy analysis. A method of compensating for this discrepancy is described.