Tensile Testing of Sutured Skin and its
Effects on Elastic Modulus
Name: Stephen
McKenna
Class: BE 210
This study aims to quantify the effects different types of suturing techniques have on the material properties of skin by measuring the elastic moduli of sutured skin and non-sutured skin. Since the string that constitutes each stitch also undergoes deformation when a force is applied by the Instron, it is hypothesized that there will be a significant difference between the elastic moduli of sutured skin and non-sutured skin. Because it has been previously proven that the running locked stitch and pulley stitch show no difference in strength, it is also hypothesized that they will exhibit no significant difference in elastic modulus under the assumption that they act identically on the material. In order to describe this difference, this study aims to quantify elastic modulus through the use of Matlab and its curve fitting feature. From these values it can be statistically shown with an unpaired t-test (of either paired or unpaired variance depending upon the variance shown in these models) whether or not there is any significant difference between the elastic moduli of sutured and intact chicken skin, and whether or not different techniques of sutures affect elastic modulus.