OPTO-MECHANICAL SYSTEM AND METHODOLOGY FOR EVALUATING THE MACRO MECHANICAL AND MICROMECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF SOFT MATERIALS AND BIOLOGICAL TISSUES.

摘要

Opto-mechanical system for evaluating the mechanical behavior of soft and thin materials and biological tissue. The system incorporates mechanical and optical devices for obtaining the macro mechanical and micromechanical behavior of samples of soft materials with standard geometries for tests of uniaxial stress. The mechanical part of the system comprises force and displacement sensors, as well as an actuator for performing tests of standard uniaxial stress. The optical part of the system includes a microscope, a CCD camera for recording the changes of micro level in the surface of the sample and fiber optic coupled to a spectrometer for recording the random laser emission. This latter element is obtained upon pumping the sample with pumping laser, which provides the external energy for the random laser. The use of the techniques of digital image correlation and the spectral analysis of the random laser emission results in the obtention of information related to the response of the s amples under different levels of applied stress. The correlation between the mechanical and optical curves provides information about the changes in the microstructure of the sample during the test.