Composite patch with negative Poisson's ratio mimicking cardiac mechanical properties: Design, experiment and simulation.

Developing patches that effectively merge intrinsic deformation characteristics of cardiac with superior tunable mechanical properties remains a crucial biomedical pursuit. Currently used traditional block-shaped or mesh patches, typically incorporating a positive Poisson's ratio, often fall short of matching the deformation characteristics of cardiac tissue satisfactorily, thus often diminishing their repairing capability. By introducing auxeticity into the cardiac patches, this study is trying to present a beneficial approach to address these shortcomings of the traditional patches. The patches, featuring the auxetic effect, offer unparalleled conformity to the cardiac complex mechanical challenges. Initially, scaffolds demonstrating the auxetic effect were designed by merging chiral rotation and concave angle units, followed by integrating scaffolds with a composite hydrogel through thermally triggering, ensuring excellent biocompatibility closely mirroring heart tissue. Tensile tests revealed that auxetic patches possessed superior elasticity and strain capacity exceeding cardiac tissue's physiological activity. Notably, Model III showed an equivalent modulus ratio and Poisson's ratio closely toward cardiac tissue, underscoring its outstanding mechanical potential as cardiac patches. Cyclic tensile loading tests demonstrated that Model III withstood continuous heartbeats, showcasing outstanding cyclic loading and recovery capabilities. Numerical simulations further elucidated the deformation and failure mechanisms of these patches, leading to an exploration of influence on mechanical properties with alternative design parameters, which enabled the customization of mechanical strength and Poisson's ratio. Therefore, this research presents substantial potential for designing cardiac auxetic patches that can emulate the deformation properties of cardiac tissue and possess adjustable mechanical parameters.

Nanocomposite conductive tough hydrogel based on metal coordination reinforced covalent Pluronic F-127 micelle network for human motion sensing.

The design of conductive hydrogels integrating anti-fatigue, high sensitivity, strong mechanical property and good sterilization performance remains a challenge. We innovatively introduced metal coordination in covalently crosslinked Pluronic F-127 micelle network and synthesized nanocomposite conductive tough hydrogel through the combination of covalent crosslinking, metal coordination and silver nanowire reinforcement. Compared with pure diacylated PF127 hydrogel (PF127), the tensile strength of PF-AA-AM-Al3+/Ag0.25 hydrogel reaching 1.4 MPa was about 10 times than that of PF127. The toughness of PF-AA-AM-Al3+/Ag0.25 reaches 1.88 MJ/m3. Compared with PF-AA-AM-Al3+, the introduction of silver nanowires increased the fatigue life of PF-AA-AM-Al3+/Ag0.25 by 200% (31837 cycles), 170% (12804 cycles) and 1022% (511 cycles) under 100%, 120% and 150% ultimate tensile strains, respectively. Besides, the PF-AA-AM-Al3+/Ag0.25 showed strain sensitivity to small deformation (Gauge factor = 2.42) in wearable tests on hands and knees. In addition, the PF-AA-AM-Al3+/Ag0.25 had good cytocompatibility and antibacterial performance that bacteria killing ratio of 98% to S. aureus and 99% to E. coli. Finally, a viscoelastic numerical constitutive model was established based on finite element method to study the damage failure history of the material. Comparative analysis showed that local stress concentration was the main factor leading to the failure of hydrogel.

Investigation of the out-of-plane load-bearing capacity of T1100/5405 composite T-stiffened panels.

With the continuous improvement of the mechanical properties of composite materials, the adhesive interface performance of composite T-stiffened panels has become a critical factor in determining the overall structural strength. However, little work has been reported on the mechanical properties of adhesive interfaces in composite T-stiffened panels under lateral bending and shear loading. Especially, there is no clear explanation on the damage evolution law of structural properties for the interface with defects, which greatly influenced the use of T-stiffened composite structures. In this paper, the mechanical properties of T1100/5405 composite T-stiffened laminates under lateral bending and shear loading are experimentally and numerically investigated. The load-bearing capacities for the panels with intact and defected adhesive interfaces are compared, the damage evolution law of typical T-stiffened structures is further explored. Based on the continuum damage model (CDM) and the cohesive zone model (CZM), the constitutive models of the adhesive layer and the composite material are established respectively. Good agreements between experimental and numerical profiles illustrate that damages mainly occur on the loading side and the corner of the L-type ribs under lateral bending conditions, while damages extend from both sides of the interface layer to the center under shear loading. When a prefabricated defect exists, damages extend from the defect location along the loading direction. At the same time, the analysis shows that the lay-up of the surface layer, the chamfer radius, and the width of T-type ribs have a great influence on the structural load-bearing capacity, but less on the damage evolution form.