Abstract
Tribological interactions between surgical suture and human tissue play an important role in the stitching process. The purpose of the paper is to understanding the tribological behavior of surgical suture interacting with artificial skin, with respect to surgical suture material and structure, by means of a capstan experiment approach and a contact area model. The results indicated that structure and surface topography of the surgical suture had a pronounced effect on the tribological interactions. The apparent coefficient of friction of vicryl surgical suture was the smallest among the three surgical suture materials. As the sliding velocity increased, or the applied load decreased, the coefficient of friction increased. Furthermore, stick-slip phenomena were observed during the sliding procedure.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are grateful to Marie Curie CIG (No. PCIG10-GA-2011-303922), the Shanghai Municipal “Science and Technology Innovation Action Plan” International Cooperation Project (No. 15540723600) for the financial support.
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Gangqiang ZHANG. He received his master degree in chemistry and chemical engineering in 2013 from Qingdao University, Qingdao, China. Now, he is a Ph.D. student in the Key Laboratory for Thin Film and Microfabrication of the Ministry of Education, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China. Meanwhile, he is also a Ph.D. student in mechanical engineering at University of Twente, Enschede, the Netherlands. His research interests include biotribology of medical material and development of lubricants.
Xiangqiong ZENG. She received her MSc. degree in applied chemistry and Ph.D. degree in material science from Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in 2003 and 2006 respectively. After then, she worked as a staff scientist in Johnson & Johnson on Skin Care Technology for 5 years, and then as a Tenure Track Assistant Professor in University of Twente, the Netherlands, on skin and human tissue tribology for 5 years. She joined Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences from November 2015 and her current position is a professor at the Advanced Lubricating Materials Laboratory. Her research areas cover biotribology and hydration lubrication, including active control of friction and wear by surface and interface design of skin contacting materials and medical devices, by test methodology development with the design of instrument and bio-inspired human tissue model, and by additive and emulsion development for hydration lubrication.
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Zhang, G., Ren, T., Zeng, X. et al. Influence of surgical suture properties on the tribological interactions with artificial skin by a capstan experiment approach. Friction 5, 87–98 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-017-0140-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40544-017-0140-3