On the Evaluation of the Elastic Modulus of Soft Materials Using Beams with Unknown Initial Curvature.

A non-linear optimization procedure is established to determine the elastic modulus of slender, soft materials using beams with unknown initial curvature in the presence of large rotations. Specifically, the deflection of clamped-free beams under self-weight - measured at different orientations with respect to gravity - is used to determine the modulus of elasticity and the intrinsic curvature in the unloaded state. The approach is validated with experiments on a number of different materials - steel, polyetherimide, rubber and pig skin. Because the loading is limited to self-weight, the strain levels attained in these tests are small enough to assume a linear elastic material behaviour. This non-destructive methodology is also applicable to engineered tissues and extremely delicate materials in order to obtain a quick estimate of the material's elastic modulus.