I'm looking for an elastic material (e.g., a rubber), whose tangential elastic modulus E is lower than 1 MPa (0.5 MPa would be enough). Anyone has an idea of which kind of rubber could fit this specification? I need a tube (16-25 mm diameter, and 1-4 mm wall thickness) of this material to simulate an artery (e.g., aorta) in a biomedical engineering application at room temperature. Unfortunately, arteries have a very low Young Modulus and it is very difficult to find a material with characteristics as close as possible to the ones of an artery. Thank you for any helpful information.
-
$\begingroup$ see personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/staff/tom.shearer/… $\endgroup$– Solar MikeApr 5, 2022 at 17:51
-
1$\begingroup$ Try silicon if it is acceptable. Also, if it is a medical application, silicon can be better than rubber. westlab.com/blog/2018/02/05/… $\endgroup$– r13Apr 5, 2022 at 19:07
-
$\begingroup$ Look for hydrogels. You may be able to contact research teams and see if they have any samples. $\endgroup$– Biswajit BanerjeeApr 6, 2022 at 19:02
1 Answer
Silicone gels can be this soft.
Your requirement is quite extreme, so you are unlikely to find a ready tube. But you can find a solution, that will harden in a required shape.
So, I suggest to look for liquid silicone gels, that harden when mixed with hardener, like epoxy. An example, that is probably too soft, 0.2 MPa, but gives an idea: https://www.wacker.com/h/de-se/medias/6982-EN.pdf
It seems tupical silicone is too tough for your use, as it is about 5 MPa, and tupical silicone gel is too soft for your use, it is about 0.01 MPa. So look for tough silicone gel. I think it is easier to make silicone gel harder, than silicone softer.
-
$\begingroup$ Thank you all for your precious help :) $\endgroup$ Apr 16, 2022 at 9:41