Acid-Base Nylon Suture Deformation

Class: BE210
Group: 101_A2
Members:

Joseph Kimmel

George Lin

Abhinav Rampuria

Jonathan Wang

Date: April 2006

Powerpoint Presentation
Full Text

The aim of this project is to measure relative mechanical strengths of nylon in acidic, basic, and neutral environments. A sub-aim for the experiment is to test the suitability of the novel environmental testing chamber created for this experiment, as a manageable mechanical testing chamber. These aims lead to the over-arching goal of determining the usability of nylon as a suture in different parts of the body that may have caustic environments.

The hypothesis of the project is: given the chemical structure of the poly-amide polymer nylon, nylon sutures will be stronger in a basic or neutral environment, than it will be in an acidic environment (pH = 2). Since the basic environment simulated in the experiment is only pH = 9, there is no predicted relative difference in the deformation of the sutures in the basic environment with respect to the neutral environment. The relative strengths of the sutures will be measured as they were in experiment 5, by comparing suture deformations under strain.