title: An experimental study of the mouse skin behaviour: damage and inelastic aspects.
abstract: Samples of male and female mice skin were tested under monotonic and cyclic loading to mechanically characterize the tissue for large deformations. Cyclic tests have shown a typical Mullins effect widely known for elastomers and other soft tissues. No statistical difference was found in the maximum stretch of the sample after the fifth loading cycle for male (1.26 +/- 0.035) and female (1.18 +/- 0.083). However, larger dispersion was obtained for the maximum stress for both genders, 0.61 +/- 0.16 MPa for male and 0.78 +/- 0.32 MPa for female. Results show the presence of inelastic strain and stress softening in the skin at large deformations. They also have shown how stress softening and residual strain change with the magnitude of the applied load. Good correlation was observed between the residual strain and the maximum strain previously attained by the sample during loading for all samples. However, the correlation was different between genders.
authors.affiliation: Lagenbio-Ingen, Aragón Institute of Engineering Research (I3A), University of Zaragoza, Spain.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Muñoz
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Bea
authors.forename: J F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ochoa
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Grasa
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pérez del Palomar
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zaragoza
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Osta
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Doblaré
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D004548:Elasticity; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D012737:Sex Factors; D012867:Skin / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012879:Skin Physiological Phenomena; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D013718:Tensile Strength / Q000502:physiology