Characterization of Thermomechanical Behaviour of Skin Tissue I. Tensile and Compressive Behaviours

of skin tissue is highly interdisciplinary, involving bioheat transfer, burn damage, biomechanics and physiology. Characterization of the thermomechanical behaviour of skin tissue is of great importance and can contribute to a variety of medical applications. However, few quantitative studies have been conducted on the temperature dependent mechanical properties of skin tissue. This paper reports the tensile and compressive behaviours of skin tissue under different temperatures and discusses the effect of temperature and corresponding dermal collagen denaturation on the mechanical properties of skin tissue. The results show that temperature has great influence on both the tensile and compressive properties of skin tissue, but the mechanisms are different. The variation of skin tensile properties is caused by the thermal denaturation of skin collagen with increasing temperature, while the variation of skin compressive behaviour of skin tissue is maybe due to the hydration change with thermal denaturation.