Presented by Surface Ventures
Despite the ubiquitous use of soft aqueous hydrogels in biomedical applications, one of the major challenges is the ability to precisely control the mechanical properties of soft biomaterials to meet specific needs. However, the accurate and precise determination of soft materials’ low modulus (usually in kPa range) is problematic. Different methods provide values which vary by orders of magnitude, with most lacking the spatial resolution to identify modulus variations in a surface, and there are no reference materials which can be used to validate the methods and values obtained. The novel nanoindentation methods can differentiate between hydrogels with elastic moduli on the order of a single kiloPascal (kPa) using a soft contact protocol, to fill a measurement capability gap identified in literature.
In this free webinar Dr Xu will:
- Introduce the soft contact protocol in nanoindentation.
- Show nanoindentation tests on super soft hyrogels (1-10 kPa).
- Show a new calibration method for the validation of the measurements.
About the Speaker
Dr Dichu Xu, University of Southampton
Following a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Zhejiang University, Dr Xu now works on an EU project “Medical Device Obligations Taskforce (MDOT)” which aims to develop the latest hydrogel coatings for excellent tribological performance in total hip replacement. Expertise and research interests include Nanoindentation on soft biomaterials, Friction & wear of Hydrogel coating, Numerical modelling of contact mechanics, Boundary lubrication, Raman spectroscopy & in-situ tribochemistry process.
About Surface Ventures
Surface Ventures is not-for-profit organisation with a mission to provide world-class Surface Engineering education for academia and industry. Visit surfaceventures.org to find out more about is and view our part webinars.
