Determination of material properties from tissue samples of low strength and size

Uniaxial tensile tests are the most common method for investigating the mechanical properties of materials. However, due to the small strength and size of certain materials, larger conventional universal testing machines are sometimes not suitable for performing elongation testing, so dedicated test setups are required. Therefore, the authors developed a testing device to measure the mechanical properties of small, flexible materials, e.g. fragile specimens of the capsular bag of the eye. Also different variants for specimen holders were designed and tested. Initial tests using eggshell membranes as a model material demonstrated the functionality of the test setup at different strain rates.