College - Author 1

College of Engineering

Department - Author 1

Materials Engineering Department

Degree Name - Author 1

BS in Materials Engineering

Date

6-2018

Primary Advisor

Trevor Harding

Abstract/Summary

The development of a medical drug delivery device that allows for the deployment drugs into the adventitial tissue of blood vessels requires the inflation of a silicone elastomer. The inflated silicone must be able to consistently endure multiple loading cycles without failing so that the device can operate reliably. There are multiple methods of processing the silicone for the device and the goal of this study is to examine the effect of the various processing methods on the characteristics of the silicone. The Dynamic Mechanical Analysis Machine (DMA) is used to model the conditions of the device’s application by performing cyclic loading of silicone samples in uniaxial tension at 37oC. Material characteristics are analyzed by comparing initial strain among each treatment group. The fatigue characteristics are determined by analyzing the change in strain after each loading cycle. Results indicate that various processing methods have a significant effect on the mechanical and fatigue properties of silicone. Ageing, Post-curing, and sterilizing samples all decrease stress softening and increase initial modulus properties. Further testing should be done that examines the samples under biaxial loading conditions to more closely model the stresses on the silicone in its application and to test for strength properties.

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