Effects of cross-sectional stress-relaxation on handling characteristics of suture materials.

Pullout friction and cross-sectional relaxation tests were conducted to quantitatively evaluate the handling characteristics of braided suture. The excellent handling of silk suture could be explained in terms of a large difference between static and dynamic pullout resistances. The difference in the resistance was closely correlated to the slope of the cross-sectional relaxation versus time logarithmic plot. It was therefore concluded that the cross-sectional stress-relaxation plays an important role in the handling performance of braided sutures.