2018 Volume 18 Issue 3 Pages 157-162
The mechanical properties of spinal cord and the tissues around it are significantly important to estimate the stress/strain state under the spinal canal stenosis and under the decompression process after the operation using FEM. In this paper, some methods for preperation of specimens of the white/gray matter in the spinal cord, ligamenta flava, dura meter and the nerve root, and the test proceduers for them were explaned. In the compression tests for the white/gray matter in spinal cord of bovine, the specimens were sucessflly formed using the developed puncture needle dropping system, and the collapsing degree of the tissues were evaluated precisely by twice-compressing method. Then the age dependency of the stiffness in human ligamenta flava, and the strain rate dependency of dura mater of bovine were found through the tensile tests by the low-high speed testing system. The two-dimensional strain field in the nerve root of pig were sucessfully measured through DIC method, where the blue sand of hour-grass was adopted for making random pattern on the specimen surface.
