Mechanical Testing
If interested in any of the following services, please contact Tanya Garcia-Nolen.
Materials Testing
This service provides mechanical or material strength properties of bone, tendon, ligament, or any other material (suture, plastics, etc.) giving the user information about the object. It can also be used to simulate the loading of a variety of bone, joint, or limb when used with cadavers or biological replicas to test the best design or function of various surgical implants, prosthetics, or other biological interfaces. Mechanical testing rates are $241/hr for monotonic testing and scaled to a maximum of $14/hr for fatigue testing (depending on specimen complexity and setup).
Fixture Design and Fabrication
The service is to design and fabricate fixtures to allow custom interface between an object and the mechanical testing systems. This service is provided at a rate of $63/hr.
Cartilage and Tissue Material Properties
The service provides a mechanical testing device that can measure the material properties of cartilage, bone or soft tissue. The unique aspect is it provides multiple indentations across the cartilage of an entire joint surface, thereby mapping the properties of the whole surface while still attached to bone. The cartilage material properties (Young’s modulus) and thickness can be determined by spherical indentation testing of the entire joint surface in vitro. This machine is used for other various tests such as hardness from micro-indentation, 3-point bending of rodent bones, or tensile or compressive tests on small tissue. Full service rate (tests done by technician) is $94/hr, while the Student rate (tests done by trained student) is $21/hr.
Localized Pressure Sensing
The service provides a digital pressure sensor (Tekscan I-scan) for small objects, typically for orthopedics or within joint contact. It provides regional pressure distribution and pressure data between 2 objects over time and can be synchronized to a mechanical testing system. This is provided at a rate of $44/hr.