Investigating the Mechanical Behavior of PGA/PCL Copolymer Surgical Suture Material Using Multiple-Beam Interference Microscopy

The article aims to investigate the mechanical behavior of polyglycolic acid PGA/polycaprolactone PCL copolymer surgical suture material. A suture fibre-drawing device was designed and calibrated to be attached with the multiple-beam interferometric technique. Multiple-beam interferometric technique of the Fizeau type, in transmission, was used to investigate the optical properties. The designed drawing device was used to stretch the suture fibre sample at different draw ratios to investigate the mechanical properties. Different values of stresses were applied by utilizing the suture fibre-drawing device. The influence of the applied stresses on the physical and structural properties was studied. The stress-strain curve, optical orientation factor, refractive indices, refractive index profiles, orientation angle, Young’s modulus, elastic shear modulus and compressibility were investigated for the PGA/PCL suture materials at different draw ratios. The behavior of the stress-strain curve of PGA/PCL suture materials takes the J-shape which agreed with the behavior of soft tissue. Illustrations using microinterferograms and graphs are given.