Any materials used in wound care must have adequate strength and mechanical performance in application.

Our mechanical testing service assesses the performance of your materials, replicating the strains they will undergo in application, to prove they’re fit for purpose. We help to prove your product meets the mechanical property requirements to pass regulations.

Some common mechanical tests we perform include:

• Bend testing
• Charpy impact
• Coating bond strength
• Compression
• Creep
• Deformation
• Flexural strength
• Gardner impact
• Hardness (Brinell, Knoop, Rockwell, Shore, Vickers)
• Shear strength
• Stress rupture
• Tensile strength
• Peel testing.

Micro Mechanical Testing

Many of our clients need to understand the mechanical properties of small, thin healthcare materials and devices, such as collagen/cellulose/graft membranes, polymer/surgical mesh, polymer sheets, and micro test coupons derived from finished devices (e.g. PE tibial liners, PE acetabular liners, PEEK cages, etc.).

Although there are not comprehensive standards for each and every material to indicate how these materials should be tested, we have developed mechanical testing methods customized to specific micro materials. Test method validation can also be provided.

Some examples of the tests and properties we perform and measure include:

• Tensile strength
• Stiffness
• Suture pull-out strength
• Burst strength
• Tear resistance
• Tear strength
• Compressive strength
• Elastic modulus
• Elongation
• Yield
• Stress-relaxation
• Creep.

Our comprehensive analytical capabilities include custom micro-mechanical test frames, custom fixturing and Digital Image Correlation (DIC), a method of visually analysing and quantifying surface strain on materials and products when interacting with external forces, weights and strains.