The potential failure of medical products must be considered at all stage in the product lifecycle, from design to production, to post-market surveillance. The testing of medical devices for mechanical integrity requires a level of expertise not normally encountered within standard materials testing laboratories. Often such products and biomaterials need specialised methods to be developed, simulating the complex loading environment found in the human body and entailing the use of biological tissues or fluids.
Techniques Available
The Smith & Nephew Technical Services Group is particularly well equipped for analysis of medical devices and biomaterials. We have six tensile testing machines, two of which are servo-hydraulic and one multi-axial. With these we can perform standard tensile, compressive, bending and torsional tests to measure stiffness, strength and toughness. A dedicated biomechanics lab also allows us to carry out more complicated tests such as mult-axial or cyclical/fatigue tests. For an understanding of the more fundamental properties of materials we have a broad range of polymer analysis methods, such as DMTA, DSC, viscometry and contact angle measurement. Our materials experience ranges from polymer, composites, ceramics, rubbers and metals, but our strengths lie particularly in the testing of biological materials, bioresorbables and adhesives.