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Simulated soft tissue nanoindentation: A finite element study

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Abstract

To address the growing interest in nanoindentation for biomaterials, the following finite element study investigated the influence of indentation testing protocol and substrate geometry on quasi-static and dynamic load-displacement behavior of linear viscoelastic materials. For a standard linear solid, the conventional quasi-static indentation modulus, EQS, fell between the instantaneous and equilibrium modulus of the model. EQS approached the equilibrium modulus only for indentation unloading times 1000 times greater than the characteristic relaxation time of the model. It was nearly insensitive to other changes in the indentation testing protocol, such as tip radius and penetration depth, exhibiting variations of only 5–10%. Dynamic nanoindentation provided a quantitatively accurate assessment of the complex dynamic modulus (within ±12%) for a range material of parameters at physiologically relevant testing parameters. Both quasi-static and dynamic moduli calculated from the irregular surfaces varied with the size and shape of the irregularities but were still within 10% of the smooth surface values for penetration depths larger than the dimensions of the surface irregularities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medical Polymers Group, Department of Applied Science and Technology, University of California, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

    Shikha Gupta & Fernando Carrillo

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, California, 94110, USA

    Fernando Carrillo

  3. Chemical Engineering Department, Escola Universitària d’Enginyeria Technica Industrial de Terrassa (EUETIT)–Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Terrassa, 08222, Spain

    Medhi Balooch

  4. Department of Restorative Dentistry, University of California, San Francisco, California, 94143, USA

    Lisa Pruitt

  5. Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California, 97420, USA

    Lisa Pruitt & Christian Puttlitz

  6. University of California—Berkeley/, University of California—San Francisco Bioengineering Joint Graduate Group, San Francisco, California, 94143, USA

    Christian Puttlitz

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  1. Shikha Gupta
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  2. Fernando Carrillo
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  3. Medhi Balooch
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  4. Lisa Pruitt
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  5. Christian Puttlitz
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Correspondence to Christian Puttlitz.

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Gupta, S., Carrillo, F., Balooch, M. et al. Simulated soft tissue nanoindentation: A finite element study. Journal of Materials Research 20, 1979–1994 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2005.0247

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/JMR.2005.0247

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