Interactions with the physical world are deeply rooted in our sense of touch and depend on ensembles of somatosensory neurons that invade and innervate the skin. Somatosensory neurons convert the mechanical energy delivered in each touch into excitatory membrane currents carried by mechanoelectrical transduction (MeT) channels. Pacinian corpuscles in mammals and touch receptor neurons (TRNs) in...

Static indentation tests on carbon fibre reinforced laminates have been frequently used in literature to predict the value of penetration energy for the laminate. The mechanical set-up most commonly employed involves the use of indentors of diameter comparable with that of the impactors prescribed from standards for falling weight impact, such as ASTM D3763.The specimen is simply supported usin...

A comprehensive study on the spherical indentation of hyperelastic soft materials is carried out through combined theoretical, computational, and experimental efforts. Four widely used hyperelastic constitutive models are studied, including neo-Hookean, Mooney-Rivlin, Fung, and Arruda-Boyce models. Through dimensional analysis and finite element simulations, we establish the explicit relations ...

The strength degrading effects of sharp-contact damage are examined for Y-TZP ceramic plates bonded to a plastic substrate. Contacts are made with Vickers and Berkovich diamond indenters at low loads (0.1 N to 100 N) in the ceramic lower surfaces prior to bonding to the substrates. The indentations remain in the subthreshold region, that is, without visible corner radial cracks, over the lower ...

Colloidal-probe spherical indentation load-relaxation experiments with a probe radius of 3 μm are conducted on poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) hydrogel materials to quantify their steady-state mechanical properties and time-dependent transport properties via a single experiment. PEG-based hydrogels are shown to be heterogeneous in both morphology and mechanical stiffness at this scale; a linear-har...

BACKGROUND The objectives of this study were to quantify the indentation strength and modulus of distal humeral cancellous bone, and to identify regional variations. The motivations were to assist in prosthesis development and to optimize screw placement. METHODS Three consecutive 3mm transverse slices were sectioned from the distal ends of seven fresh-frozen cadaveric specimens. A 3 x 3mm gr...

The finite-element method is used to perform an accurate numerical study of the normal indentation of an elastic-plastic half-space by a rigid sphere. The effects of elasticity and strain-hardening rate of the half-space are explored, and the role of friction is assessed by analysing the limiting cases of frictionless contact and sticking friction. Indentation maps are constructed with axes of ...

The indentation test is a popular experimental method to measure a material’s mechanical properties such as elastic modulus and hardness, and the Oliver–Pharr method is commonly used in commercial indentation instruments to obtain these two quantities. To apply the Oliver–Pharr method correctly in all of these cases, it is essential to know the limitations of this method. The present study focu...

Indentation is a primary tool in the investigation of the mechanical properties of very soft tissue such as the brain. However, the usual material characterization protocols are not applicable because the resulting deformation is inhomogeneous, with even the identification of the amount of strain ambiguous and uncertain. Focusing on spherical indentation only, a standard is needed to quantify t...

Quantitative assessment of the biomechanical properties of limb soft tissues has become more important during the last decade because of the introduction of computer-aided design and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) and finite element analysis to the prosthetic socket design. Because of the lack of a clinically easy-to-use apparatus, the site and posture dependences of the material proper...